Contraception Understandings and Experiences

Rationale / Background

Women (and men) use contraception so that they can have sex without pregnancy. Yet we know surprisingly little about women perceive the effects of the different contraceptive methods on their bodies and on their relationships. This study will ask women about their thoughts, feelings and experiences of contraception as part of their sexual lives. It will help us understand why women change contraceptive methods, why they sometimes put up with undesirable side effects and why they sometimes take risks even when they do not wish to become pregnant. The findings will extend the sociological understanding of heterosexual interactions and will also assist in training doctors and nurses in contraceptive counselling and prescribing.

Aim and Objectives

In order to examine women’s attitudes towards and understandings and experiences of fertility control and choice of contraceptive methods in relation to their sexual lives, we propose to conduct a qualitative study based on in-depth open-ended interviews with 100 women of reproductive age (16–49) in New South Wales.

Publications and Resources

Conference Paper
Richters, J. (July 2011). What’s contraception got to do with sex? The neglect of reproductive issues in sexuality research. Presented at Naming and Framing: The Making of Sexual (In)Equality, International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) VIII Conference, Madrid, July 2011. Abstract 2533.

Funding

This project was funded by ARC Linkage Grant LP110200996 to the University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, and Family Planning NSW.