5 ms·

What? This is the definition of anecdotal evidence. It’s not very effective at all in practice, statistically. > For every 100 people who use the pull out meth

What? This is the definition of anecdotal evidence. It’s not very effective at all in practice, statistically. > For every 100 people who use the pull out method perfectly, 4 will get pregnant. > But pulling out can be difficult to do perfectly. So in real life, about 22 out of 100 people who use withdrawal get pregnant every year — that’s about 1 in 5. https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control/withdrawal-pull-out-method/how-effective-is-withdrawal-method-pulling-out https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control/withdr... These are not hard stats to look up.

southernplaces7 2y ago
So, it can be very effective but a whole lot of people apply it terribly and stupidly.
- dalyons 2y ago
  Everyone assumes they’re the smart one applying it “right”. Statistically they’re not.
loeg 2y ago
96% efficacy is pretty good; more or less on par with condoms.
ipsento606 2y ago
> For every 100 people who use the pull out method perfectly, 4 will get pregnant. Are those 4-in-100 distributed randomly? Did the pregnancies result despite 100% adherence to the method, or was there occasional failure to adhere? There's a big difference between a method being ineffective from the perspective of a health care provider, and a method being ineffective in absolute terms. A provider has to care about what broad cross sections of people will actually do, rather than what they say they will do. If you're an individual person who knows they can adhere to the method perfectly, the fact people on average cannot or will not adhere perfectly has no particular relevance to you. I have no horse in this race, but the same difference in the meaning of "efficacy" arises in all sorts of aspects of health care, like advice on diet and exercise, or the prescription of specific exercises for physical therapy.
- dalyons 2y ago
  I’m sure the majority of individuals practicing think they can be/are perfect adherents. Statistically they are wrong.
  - ipsento606 1y ago
    some are likely correct, however
wzdd 1y ago
The stats are not hard to look up, but they do seem somewhat hard to gather. The site you linked doesn't reference a study, but I imagine that asking a bunch of people if they pulled out "perfectly", even for quite stringent definitions of "perfectly" will result in quite a lot of variance. I'm not trying to no-true-Scotsman birth control methods, just pointing out that it's hard to draw meaningful conclusions when all you have is people's word.

southernplaces7 2y ago

So, it can be very effective but a whole lot of people apply it terribly and stupidly.

dalyons 2y ago
Everyone assumes they’re the smart one applying it “right”. Statistically they’re not.

loeg 2y ago

96% efficacy is pretty good; more or less on par with condoms.

ipsento606 2y ago

> For every 100 people who use the pull out method perfectly, 4 will get pregnant. Are those 4-in-100 distributed randomly? Did the pregnancies result despite 100% adherence to the method, or was there occasional failure to adhere? There's a big difference between a method being ineffective from the perspective of a health care provider, and a method being ineffective in absolute terms. A provider has to care about what broad cross sections of people will actually do, rather than what they say they will do. If you're an individual person who knows they can adhere to the method perfectly, the fact people on average cannot or will not adhere perfectly has no particular relevance to you. I have no horse in this race, but the same difference in the meaning of "efficacy" arises in all sorts of aspects of health care, like advice on diet and exercise, or the prescription of specific exercises for physical therapy.

dalyons 2y ago
I’m sure the majority of individuals practicing think they can be/are perfect adherents. Statistically they are wrong.
- ipsento606 1y ago
  some are likely correct, however

wzdd 1y ago

The stats are not hard to look up, but they do seem somewhat hard to gather. The site you linked doesn't reference a study, but I imagine that asking a bunch of people if they pulled out "perfectly", even for quite stringent definitions of "perfectly" will result in quite a lot of variance. I'm not trying to no-true-Scotsman birth control methods, just pointing out that it's hard to draw meaningful conclusions when all you have is people's word.