One of those areas that most people think will go away in the end times or SHTF is sex. Many people think that they will be too stressed out, too worried, too hungry, and too desperate to worry about sex.

I happen to think they are wrong.

Sex has some benefits that most people do not consider:

• Sex is a natural stress reliever. 
• Sex helps people feel closer and more attached when the chips are down. 
• Sex helps people to relax. 
• Sex can be a coping agent. 
• Sex can be used as a way to escape reality for just a little while. 

In other words, sex can and will be a factor when a SHTF happens. People will still have sex. Desperation will drive people to do many things. Many people may turn to sex for financial reasons. Sex can and will be used as a bartering tool or to buy food. Many people will use to just to comfort themselves.

Along with sex though comes some other issues. Many, many people are on birth control or practice some method of birth control for preventing pregnancy as well as addressing medical issues. Unless you stock up on condoms and/or sponge and spermicide, you could lose access to birth control for sex.

Most methods of birth control only last a certain amount of time:

• The pill, ring, and patch are prescribed for only 30-90 days.
• The shot only lasts three months.
• The IUD lasts five years. 
• The implants last three years.

Many of these will stay in your system for up to six months or possibly a year after ending their use. However, after the time frame for this birth control is over, what happens next? Pregnancy can happen although most women do not get pregnant immediately after stopping birth control. Sexually transmitted diseases can happen and will still happen, but birth control does not prevent most of those. 

Birth control is widely prescribed to control female medical issues. If birth control is used to control female medical issues, those issues will come back in a hurry after discontinuing the use of the birth control. Then what?

Other options must be explored to prevent unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and to control painful female issues like primary dysmenorrhea, severe cramping, excessive bleeding, and more. 

The best idea for preventing unwanted pregnancies and STDs would be to practice abstinence. However, most couples and good deal of people will not consider abstinence purely because they don’t want to consider it. As mentioned before, sex will be used to make people feel better, for financial gain, and for bartering purposes. As much as abstinence should be considered and is always an option, many people just won’t. 

The Family Planning Method or the Natural Rhythm Method is always good and requires some record keeping on the female’s part. However, these still comes with some risk. Unwanted pregnancies may still occur due to inaccurate record keeping and/or stress on a woman’s body due to the circumstances they are in. Neither prevents STDs. However, the record keeping that is needed with this method may help women in detecting female health issues and give an accurate idea of when female problems are occurring.

Having a good supply of condoms, sponges, spermicides, and diaphragm on hand would be ideal. Those many run out though eventually or be too expensive to afford. They also will not be any use to anyone in cases of rape or sexual assault where they are not likely to be found. As a preventative measure, if you are done having children, now may be the time to consider having a tubal ligation and/or vasectomy. You would not have to worry about using non-hormonal forms of birth control, but I would still keep a good supply on hand. 

The only surefire way to prevent STDs is to not have sex with someone you do not know. If you do, be sure to have both parties thoroughly clean themselves before and after sex. Also, you should avoid sex with anyone who looks to be infected. You should look for signs such as genital bumps, rashes, and open sores. In cases of rape or sexual assault, you should thoroughly clean yourself afterwards scrubbing with a disinfectant. If medical care is available, you should get checked out and follow the same procedure as above. 

If you are using hormonal birth control for prevention of pregnancy, you need to figure out which options of non-hormonal birth control will work for you and stock up. If you are using it to prevent female issues, you should first ask your doctor if there are other ways to treat your condition or the symptoms of your condition. If there is other options of treatment, especially over the counter treatments, you need to stock up on them and start using them. I would also have a good supply of items like Midol or Pamprin to help with the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. 

You should also look into alternative treatments for your female issues. Cutting out the processed foods would help greatly, but after a SHTF you might have to eat whatever you have on hand or can find. I would look into essential oils, herbs, tinctures, teas (raspberry leaf), and other holistic treatments that may benefit you greatly. Now would be the time to experiment and seek the advice of an expert to see what will work for you. 

When the SHTF happens, none of this will really go away. If fact, sex will still happen. People will still need ways of preventing pregnancy. Women will still need to deal with their menstrual cycles and female issues. Not being prepared for it is simply sticking your head in the sand to avoid dealing with it. Although this is an unpopular topic, it is one that needs to be addressed by you for yourself and your family.

Thanks for reading,
Erica

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