{"id":7759,"date":"2017-11-28T13:18:55","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T19:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=7759"},"modified":"2017-11-30T12:32:22","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T18:32:22","slug":"sex-crisis-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/11\/sex-crisis-venezuela.html","title":{"rendered":"Is “sex in crisis” in Venezuela?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"from<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the headline at the Washington Post today:\u00a0 \u201cEven sex is in crisis in Venezuela, where contraceptives are growing scarce<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report, in many respect, is \u201cold news\u201d \u2014 two years ago, a spate of articles described the lack of contraception in the country (e.g., Breitbart<\/a>, as a non-paywalled version) due to the economic crisis, and earlier this year, papers reported on the increasing degree to which women sought out sterilization (here, from the Miami Herald<\/a>).\u00a0 Three years ago, the report was on the shockingly-high rate of teen pregnancies, cited at Reuters<\/a> as \u201cone of the worst in South America\u201d with 23% of all births being from under-18 year olds, as a store mannequin display showed pregnant teen girl mannequins to draw attention to the issue, and this appeared to be a\u00a0longstanding cultural issue, not as a result of any shortages in government-supplied contraceptives.<\/p>\n

The pro-government website Venezuelanaysis<\/a> reported in 2015 that the government was preparing to provide 18 million condoms in that year, provided by the\u00a0United Nations Population Fund, and claimed that shortages were caused by \u201choarding\u201d by private companies.\u00a0 Did this happen?\u00a0 No idea.<\/p>\n

And, with respect to the economic and political situation in Venezuela in general, there have been dramatic reports from the country for quite a while now; back last year, I expressed skepticism<\/a> that the economy would lead to Maduro being forced out of power.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s really going on?\u00a0 The most recent data for the birth rate is from 2015<\/a>, and shows no disruption in the ongoing trend of decreases in birth rates from year to year.\u00a0 Are there increases in unplanned pregnancies being balanced out by decreases in planned pregnancies?\u00a0 So far as I can tell, the data isn\u2019t available.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to today\u2019s Washington Post article, which is, fundamentally, a chaotic, disorganized, anecdotal piece of reporting.<\/p>\n

The article starts by featuring a couple who were unable to acquire birth control pills, decided that going without sex wasn\u2019t an option, \u201ctried to be careful,\u201d but became pregnant.\u00a0 (What does \u201ctry to be careful\u201d mean?\u00a0 It\u2019s not like driving a car, where, in the absense of well-functioning brakes you can \u201ctry to be careful\u201d with slowing down well in advance of intersections.\u00a0 Was this an exceptionally-uncurious reporter?\u00a0 Was the couple actually practicing withdrawal?)<\/p>\n

The article continues by saying that Venezuelans are having sex despite lack of contraceptives and that doctors report (without firm statistics) an increase in unwanted pregnancies and STDs as a result.\u00a0 Irritatingly, despite being a nominally Catholic country, the only mention of Natural Family Planning (which, even if not for religious reasons, you\u2019d think\u00a0would be a bigger part of the country\u2019s reaction to shortages) is a statement that<\/p>\n

Mainstream media outlets have published articles about the \u201ccounting method\u201d of contraception that women can use to calculate when they are ovulating and likely to get pregnant.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

though, to be sure, since this is a crummy article, one wonders whether there is more NFP education happening than just reports on calendar rhythm.<\/p>\n

Women purchase contraceptives on the black market, or get them when friends travel abroad.\u00a0 Three-packs of condoms costs the equivalent of several days\u2019 minimum-wage pay; a month\u2019s supply of birth control pills cost 1\/3 of a month\u2019s minimum-wage pay.\u00a0 The cheap brands of condoms available are reportedly unreliable \u2014 though, at the same time, the article reports that men generally refused to use condoms anyway, and yet, STD rates have increased.\u00a0 (A doctor reports that she now sees 5 or 6 of every 10 patients having STDs, vs. 1 of 10 in the past \u2014 are these numbers reliable, or does this mean that she sees fewer patients for other reasons, e.g., pregnancy visits?)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a bit of a jumble.\u00a0 What\u2019s really going on?\u00a0 To be honest, I don\u2019t have the time, nor the language skills, to dig into the shortages in Venezuela, whether this particular shortage is persistent and ongoing, and how it\u2019s impacting fertility statistics.\u00a0 But the story that the Post tells seems incomplete.\u00a0 One presumes that, a population accustomed to contraceptives, but sufficiently acquainted with the basics of how reproduction works, would do more than just hunt down black market supplies and forgo their next grocery-shopping trip \u2014 or rather, would do less, changing their behavior accordingly, whether by using natural methods, or refraining entirely, or reducing the frequency to, say, special occasions.\u00a0 In fact, I rather assumed that \u201csex\u201d being in crisis was a reference to exactly this.\u00a0 And it may be that this is exactly what is happening, to a large extent, anyway, but that\u2019s not what the reporter chose to see.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image:\u00a0from https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AOpened_Oral_Birth_Control.jpg<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s the headline at the Washington Post today:\u00a0 \u201cEven sex is in crisis in Venezuela, where contraceptives are growing scarce.\u201d The report, in many respect, is \u201cold news\u201d \u2014 two years ago, a spate of articles described the lack of contraception in the country (e.g., Breitbart, as a non-paywalled version) due to the economic crisis, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":3642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[269,383],"class_list":["post-7759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-contraception","tag-venezuela"],"yoast_head":"\nIs "sex in crisis" in Venezuela?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That's the headline at the Washington Post today:\u00a0 "Even sex is in crisis in Venezuela, where contraceptives are growing scarce." 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