 Please note that this video has sexual health content. Sexual intercourse can cause two big problems. One are sexually transmitted diseases. In short, we call them as STDs. And second, it can also cause unwanted pregnancy. And so in this video, we'll talk about how contraceptives can help us avoid these. But before we begin, let's talk a little bit about these two. Unwanted pregnancy, I'm sure you can understand. Just because our bodies are sexually mature, doesn't necessarily mean that we are ready for the responsibility of a baby, right? So there could be so many reasons we wouldn't want one. So that's that. And STDs, as the name suggests, these are the diseases which are transmitted due to sexual intercourse. And this happens because during the intercourse, there's exchange of bodily fluids between the people involved. Just to give you some examples of sexually transmitted diseases, gonorrhea and syphilis, these are caused by bacterial infection. And then we have AIDS and warts. AIDS being one of the most dangerous ones. AIDS and warts, which are caused by viral infection, something you may need to remember. All right. So now let's talk about how do we prevent them? Well, we can prevent them by using what we call contraceptives. So what exactly are contraceptives? Well, contraceptives, in short, can be thought of as methods or devices to prevent pregnancy, to prevent pregnancy. So contraceptives are mostly thought of in terms of unwanted pregnancy, right? So these are the things that we do to prevent pregnancy. So how many types of contraceptives do we have? Well, broadly, we can classify contraceptives into three kinds. Let's move up and make space. Okay. So we have mechanical barriers, the hormonal methods and the surgical methods. Let's start with the mechanical barriers. What does that do? Well, as the name suggests, it acts like a barrier. But barrier for what? Well, it acts like a barrier for the fluids. So it ensures there is no fluid exchange between the people involved. So over here, in sexual intercourse, there'll be no fluids, no fluids exchanged, so no fluid exchange. Okay. And the example of that would be condoms. So male condoms can be put on the top of penis, or we can also have female condoms, which can be put inside the vagina. In either cases, it'll ensure that there is no transfer of fluid from one body to another. So this means the semen will never enter the vagina. As a result, the sperms can never ever reach the eggs preventing pregnancy. And since there is no exchange of fluids, this also means it can prevent STDs, right? Because we said earlier, STDs come from the exchange of the fluids. So it also prevents STDs. Now one thing I need to be very clear over here, when I say the word prevent STD or prevent pregnancy, I don't mean 100%. These things, these contraceptives are never 100%. All right? So they just increase the chances, or I should say decrease the chances of pregnancy. They decrease the chances of catching STD. Okay? This is a better word to use over here. Anyways, with that in mind, let's move on to the next method, the hormonal method. As the name suggests, you know what this does? I mean, what we do over here? In this, we change the hormone levels. We cause some kind of a hormone imbalance. What does that do? Well, you see in female reproductive system, it's the hormones that cause certain hormones that cause the release of eggs, right? So if we change the levels of those hormones, which are responsible for the release of eggs, then this can affect the release of egg altogether, right? So in effect, these methods will affect the egg release, egg release. Let me quickly give you an example of how this can be done. This can be done usually with the oral pills. So some pills might change the hormone levels and make sure egg never gets released. That way, there will be no fertilization. Some other ones might make sure, ensure that the egg, if released, dies immediately. Some will ensure that the egg will never be able to travel down the fallopian tube all the way to the uterus. Some might ensure that even though the egg gets fertilized, it will never be able to implant itself in the uterus. So there are many, many ways this can be done. And so there are different, different kinds of pills. And since it's, it's concentrating on the, it's, it's affecting the egg release. This means that it's done for women. Why not for men? Well, because in women, we just have one egg to concentrate on and that's a little easier. In men, we have millions of sperms. And so it's very difficult to say, make all the sperms inactive, right? So hormonal methods are usually for women. And that now brings us to the third one, the surgical method. As the name suggests, here, some kind of surgeries need to be performed. Now depending upon the kind of surgeries, we can further classify it into two kinds. So there are certain surgeries that can be done to have temporary contraceptives. These are temporary methods, oops, temporary. And there are some others which give permanent contraceptives, permanent. Okay. Let's start with the temporary ones. The most common temporary ones would be, would be properties. And I'll explain that in a second, properties or loops, loops. So what do they do? You ask, well, take the example of property. Here is a picture of property installed inside the uterus. So it's called property because it is T shaped. As you can see, it's a, it's very flexible and that's how you can insert it. And it contains copper. That's why copper T. The copper will attract or turns out that the copper attracts the immune system and the immune system can kill the sperm cells. That's one way to make sure the sperms don't reach and fertilize the egg. Some other properties might again cause some hormonal changes, basically change the level of hormones. And that could do something like maybe block off this cervix, ensure that there's a lot of mucus over here. And as a result, the sperms will again not be able to enter. All right. Loops also do something very similar. They just have a little different shape. But the whole idea, as you can see, is that, that the whole idea is to kill the sperms, to make sure the sperms are not able to reach the egg. And of course, if you're wondering what's this thread like structure doing over here, this is just to, for the, for the patient or I wouldn't say patient for that person or for the doctor to ensure that the T whatever was installed is in place, because sometimes it can be released and you might even, you won't even know it. So just to ensure that this is in place, there is a thread like structure over there. And so since these devices are put inside the uterus, they're often also called intra, intra uterine. Inside the uterus, intra uterine, contraception devices are also called intra uterine just devices. Right. So the short form for that is IUD. You may hear about them. IUDs. IUDs basically means these temporary methods. All right. So now let's look, look at the permanent methods. The permanent methods usually are vasectomy for males and tubectomy for females. Okay. Again. What are those? Well, if you look at the male reproductive parts, you might know that the sperms from the testes reach the penis via this particular tube called the vas difference, right? So in vasectomy, doctors will just cut this vas difference and put a knot over there. So they will cut that and put a knot over there. This will ensure the sperms will never reach the penis. And so the ejaculated fluid, the semen will never contain sperms, right? So it's, since we're cutting the vas difference, it's called vasectomy. And similarly, tubectomy is quite similar. In tubectomy, what happens is we make a cut in the fallopian tube. So again, we make a cut in the fallopian tube and put a knot over there. This will ensure that the released egg will never be able to reach the uterus and they will never be able to implant itself and grow over there. So since we're cutting the fallopian tube, we will call this the tubectomy. All right. Now before we wind up, a couple of things is in these methods, these contraceptive methods, although they prevent, they might prevent pregnancy, there is still bodily fluids exchanged over here because there are no barriers over here, right? That means these do not prevent STDs, all right? That's important. Do not prevent STDs. And so to ensure that, you know, people don't catch STDs. They always need to use mechanical barriers. And secondly, these things can definitely cause some side effects. For example, the skin could be allergic to the material used in condoms. Hormonal imbalance definitely causes some side effect. And when it comes to surgery, there can always be complications. There can be irritations and so many things. And so please take this as just theoretical advice. If you need any practical advice, you should definitely go and consult a doctor, preferably a gynecologist. I am not a doctor. So this is not any, this is not practical advice. And lastly, if you're talking about surgical method, if the pregnancy has already started, then the surgical method can also include abortion. And of course, you might know that some people have misused this in the past to kill off female fetuses because they only wanted boy babies. And that has had a drastic consequence on the sex ratio. In some places, there are a lot of males compared to females, which is bad. And it's for that reason. Now it's illegal in India to find out the sex of the fetus before the baby is born. All right. So that's pretty much it. Let's quickly summarize what we learned. We saw that sexual intercourse can cause sexually transmitted diseases. Some are transmitted by bacteria. Some are transmitted by viruses. And they happen because of the exchange of body fluids. And another thing is it can cause unwanted pregnancy. So to avoid them, we have something called contraceptives, which are usually thought to be methods or devices which prevent pregnancy. So from pregnancy point of view, they're usually thought of. And there are three major kinds, the mechanical barriers, which include condoms, they allow no exchange of fluids. So they prevent pregnancy and also prevent STD. And then we have the hormonal methods in which the hormones of the usually the female hormones are altered or altered. They're causing imbalance over there, which can affect the egg release and can ensure no fertilization takes place. Usually include the oral pills. And we also have the surgical methods, the temporary ones where you insert some devices inside the uterine, which kills off sperms like properties and loops. And we also have the permanent ones. We have surgeries which ensure there is no transfer of sperms from the, from the testes to the penis. Or we make sure that the egg cannot reach the uterus.