4 4h aD'tt 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Mich. Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of the author This must be noted in all reprints. Friday, August 13, 1971 News Phone: 764-0552 NIGHT EDITOR: JONATHAN MILLER sex information The diff ferent rhythms Behind the battle WHILE THE WAR - and it is a war - drags on in Northern Ireland, comparatively little attention is drawn by the bare facts that explain the confrontation beween Protestant and Catholic. The mass media are notorious vultures, preferring to detail the excitement - however terrible - of battle and destruction, rather than attempt to understand the caus- es and suggest the way to achieve a reconciliation. That has been the case with the newest outbreak in Northern Ireland. Reports of rioting allude to "demands of the Catholic minority," but go no further. Such language is entirely misleading because the Catholics are not a small "minority" - and that is what the word implies. There are over half a million Catholics in Northern Ireland ,and 850,000 Protestants. And among people under 18 years old, more than half are Catholic, the Protestant majority is slipping towards near equality. WHERE CATHOLICS are a minority is in government. Catholic power has been squelched by a system that makes property-owning the basis for suffrage. It is the Protestants who have economic control of Ulster, a strength that goes back to English rule of the entire island, so Catholics are less likely to qualify to vote. Gerrymandering does the rest to ensure Protestant con- trol. As a result, Catholics hold less than 10 per cent of the governmental jobs in Northern Ireland. In one city, with a Catholic majority in numbers, there are only enough voters to elect 8 out of 20 city councilmen; city jobs, public housing, and other benefits go to Protestants. Documentation of the economic and political oppres- sion of the Catholics can go on and on. It was only a few years ago, however, that Catholics began to organize to demand their rights, like universal suffrage, equal elec- tion districting, and basic civil rights granted to other British citizens. THE PROTESTANTS reacted with fear, reluctant to make any but token reforms. In the frustration and anger, the violence has escalated. The British army has been sent in to protect the Protestant hegemony with its superior arms and training. Ironically, Britain was responsible for the entire sit- uation. When Ireland won its independence, Britain re- tained six of the nine counties of Ulster to save face and to protect Protestant business interests. The six counties were chosen purposely to produce a Protestant majority; the three most heavily Catholic counties were left to Ireland. Britain could act now to force improvement of the condition of the Catholics, since Britain controls the vital armed forces. Such a move would be prudent for Britain, because the British Army does not want to fight in Northern Ireland. Many of soldiers are Catholics. The war can only demoralize the British forces. Prime Minister Heath, however, is reportedly deter- mined to stop the resistance by force rather than impose a political settlement. He apparently has drawn no les- sons from the failures of other leaders trying to fight with unwilling armies in foreign countries - and Ireland is not Britain, but a very different culture. AND AS THE FIGHTING continues, the Catholics will become even more alienated from Britain. What might have begun as a civil rights movement of an op- pressed people is becoming - if it has not already be- come - a movement to oust the British and return all of Ulster to Irish rule. The Protestants, who still hold a numerical major- ity, will fight that in every way they can. The situation can only get worse. Perhaps it is too late for Britain to force granting of civil rights to the Catholics, but the effort is worth making. The warfare might subside as the Catholics gain- ed more control of their own lives. Otherwise, there will be a tremendous price to pay, with perhaps every Catholic either dead or a refugee in Ireland, and a Protestant majority holding on at a great loss to a shell of a country. It is time for other countries - and their citizens - to start pressing for a fair settle- ment. -MARCIA ABRAMSON (EDITOR'S NOTE: T h i sregular quoestiono- and -aswnercolumno matters of sexual concern isbeing published in co-operation w i t h Counseling services, a division of the Office of Stoudeot Services. Question.s may he"sest toBo x 25, The Daily, 4?3 Maynard, or phoned into 76-GUIDE, the Coun- eling Services' regular 24 - hour counseling and referral service.) By ROBERT KOOP Q. In my opinion, your t o 1- umns have been excellent. Are you an M.D. or just a well informed reporter? A. Well, I'm not an M.D., but on the other hand, I like to think of myself as more than just a reporter. If you're interested, here's how I work: I take questions that come in and go to an appropriate source for the answer (book, doctor, population planning expert, my experience, whatever is appro- priate). I answer the question to my own satisfaction, going on until I feel I really understand what I'm talking about. Then I write up a response. But I'm not done yet. I take my answer to an expert - M.D. or otherwise - or two and have them go over it with me. They point out my misunderstandings, suggest changes and generally just check for simple accuracy. When an answer has success- fully passed their scrutiny, I print it. And here it is. Q. I've heard that there's some kind of foolproof rhythm method (of contraception) now that has something to do with taking your temperature every day. How does it work? A. It doesn't exist. There's no such thing as a fool- proof rhythm method. There are, however. more and less effective ways of calculating when inter- course should be safe - and one of them does involve daily tem- perature readings. Before I go into that, I want to point out that the rhythm meth- od, used alone, is not an effective means of contraception. The fail- ure rates are very high - only a little better according to some studies than not taking any pre- cautions at all. It can be useful when used in conjunction with other contra- ceptive methods (condom, vaginal soermicides, diaphragm, etc.). But the only reason a couple should ever rely on rhythm alone is if they have moral or religious prin- ciples about other forms of con- traception that override their con- cern about unwanted pregnancy. THE WHOLE IDEA of a rhy- thm method of contraception is based on the fact that pregnancy con not occur unless an egg is fertilized - and that fertilization can not take place unless an egg s alive and available to sperm. So, the story goes. all you have to do is figure out when the egg first be- comes available and how long it stays alive, and refrain from in- tercourse between the two events. Simple, huh? The trouble is, it can't be done accurately. Sperm stay alive in a woman's body for about 48 hours or longer after in- tercourse. Therefore a woman must start abstaining two days before she ovulates. Now, it's possible to predict when a woman will ovulate dur- ing each cycle, but human bodies have the 'distressing habit of re- fusing to perform as expected. Every once in a while (rarely, but it happens) a woman will ovulate during her menstrual period - the safest time ever, according to proponents of the rhythm meth- ods. The state of a. woman's mind can also alter the time of ovula- tion significantly. An emotional upset can either delay it or, it seems, bring it on earlier than anticipated. There are even in- dications that some women a r e "reflex ovulators" - that is, they ovulate in response to intercourse, as do other mammals. IT'S ALSO POSSIBLE to tell when a woman has just ovulated, because hormones released at the time of ovulation cause slight but measurable changes in the body. These include a change in t h e chemical composition of vaginal fluids, a change in the consistency of the cervical mucus and a slight rise in body temperature- The mucus, which appears at the opening of the vagina, starts at the beginning of the men- strual cycle as a thick, sticky, cloudy cord which passes out of the vagina. During the next days the mucus becomes more abundant, clearer and more watery. At the time of ovulation it is most abtndant and can be stretched out into a thread uo to ten inches long before it will break. After ovulation it gets thicker again. Sometimes this change - and, in fact, all changes having to do with ovulation - can only be de- tected by a physician or other ex- pert. Sometimes, in fact, they -an't be accurately detected at all. By keeping careful track of tiny (half a degree) changes in body temperature a woman can tell pretty accurately when she has ovulated. Since an o v u m (egg) remains alive and available for only 24 hours or so, a wo- man can abstain from intercourse until a day or two after she ovu- lates and be fairly confident that she won't ovulate again during that cycle. ToJEJE ARE DRAWBACKShere too. Attemots to pinpoint the re- lationshfo between the rise in body temnerature and the exact t me of ovulation show that the rise can occur anywhere from one to three days after ovulation. Al- so, any disease or infection may cause changes in the body tem- perature. I could go on with the dis- idvanta-es - sperm have been known, in some cases, to remain alive and viable for up to a week inside a woman's body, etc. etc. Suffice it to say that this is not a very effective means of contra- ception. The failure rate per hun- dred woman years can be as low as six or as high as thirty - de- pending on the skill and motiva- tion of the users (and perhaps the bias of the researchers.) This is a method that should not be used by women who must not become pregnant - whether for reasons of health, finance, conscience, or whatever. It should also not be used by women whd have irregular cycles, especially if they're irregular for any of the following reasons: age (under 22 or approaching menopause) re- cent pregnancy, breastfeeding, or emotional problems. It also should not be used if your, shortest cy- cle is shorter than 21 days or It varies more than 10- days. If you want it to work well, you shouldn't attempt it without guidance from a doctor or family planning coun- selor. Anyway, here's how: 1) CALENDAR METHOD: Keep a record of your menstrual cycle for at least six months, preferably longer. Counting the first day of menstrual flow as day one, re- cord the length of each cycle. Cal- culate the unsafe period by sub- tracting eighteen from the length of the shortest cycle - this is the first unsafe day. Subtract eleven from the length of the longest cy- cle - this is the last unsafe day. You must abstain from intercourse from the first to the last unsafe day. It can't be overemphasized that the unsafe period is different in different women. There's no set formula that works for everyone. You MUST chart your cycles for at LEAST six months if you want the method to be effective at all. 2) TEMPERATURE METHOD. (Yes, I'm finally answering t h e question - you didn't think I'd make it, did you?) Keep a record of your basal body temperature every day for at least six cycles. This involves taking your temp- erature with a special, finely graded thermometer (preferably rectally) every morning before you get out of bed. And before you smoke, have anything to drink or even move around very much. Note any other factors - a cold, maybe - which might affect the temperature during this period. At the time of ovulation a slight rise In temperatureyshould be noted during every cycle. The unsafe period begins on the fifth day from the start of menstrual bleed- ing and lasts until three to five days after the temperature rise. Don't have intercourse during this interval. 3) COMBINED M E T H O D: The first unsafe day is calculat- ed by the calendar method, and the last by the temperature meth- od. This shortens the unsafe per- iod some and is almost as ef- fective. t ,fi Letters to The Daily Priorities To The Daily: AFTER READING Anita Crone's article concerning Peter Andrews, I was left puzzling over a multi- tude of questions. Specifically, how much is the University pay- ing Andrews to merely facilitate the booking of rock and blues groups? Why, if Andrews was hir- ed last December, haven't t h e people of Ann Arbor been inform- ed of this action until eight months later? How can the Uni- versity afford to pay Andrews to book groups, and yet cannot af- ford the conflict resolution center and has continuously raised tui- tion and room and board? Certainly Daily reporters can at least inform the public on these vital questions, even if they are outraged at the University's prior-; ities, and the ludricrous waste of funds used to hire Andrews. -Katie Koffel Aug. 11 Extravagance To The Daily: TEN BILLION dollars a bush- el? When I was a 15-year-old, I set the alarm clock for 4 a.m., fed the old mare, hitched up to my wagon load of ten bushels of rad- ishes and rattled over the stony streets to the City Market, put the horse in a stable nearby, and, (if I was lucky), sold the rad- ishes to the grocery men for one dollar a bushel. There were 12 radishes in a bunch, 12 dozen bunches _in a bushel. Ten or fifteen dollars for my load was a big deal. Then I would hitch up, drive back to the farm and get up the next day's load Now moon rocks cost ten billion dollars a bushel. Times have changed, and you can't eat moon rocks. (One man's opinion) Earth rocks are just as good as moon rocks. Extravagance: The U.S. owes 400 billion dollars, pays 18 bil- lion dollars interest annually, and is going another 20 billion dol- lars in the hole this year in its inflated balloon. Shouldn't owe a dime! -Ernie Sheffield Minneapolis, Minn. The Editorial Page of The Michigan Daily is open to any- one who wishes to submit articles. Generally speaking, all articles should be less than 1,000 words.