Dear Counselor, some people say that if you don’t practice sex, you do find difficulty in producing in future. Is it true?

It is not true that if you don’t practice sex you will have difficulty in producing in future. In fact, if you delay to have sex, you are avoiding acquiring STIs, HIV/AIDS and other consequences of sex that you cannot handle as a student. Infections now may even hinder you from having children in future. You do not have to practice now. When you are old enough and ready, it will automatically come and you will enjoy it.

Dear Counselor, what is female genital mutilation (FGM) and what are the consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM)?

Female Genital mutilation (FGM) is the practice of cutting any part of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is sometimes called female circumcision. It is a cultural practice well ingrained in certain cultures and is carried out by traditional circumcisers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around the world between 100 and 132 million girls and women have been subjected to FGM and each year a further 2 million girls are at risk. Female genital mutilation is mostly practiced in Africa. In Uganda, female genital mutilation is most prevalent in Kapchorwa, Bukwo and Karamoja.

The most common form of female genital mutilation involves the cutting or removal of the clitoris and other vaginal tissues. The reasons for carrying out FGM varies from culture to culture with some believing that FGM reduces a woman’s desire for sex and in doing so reduces the chances of having sex outside marriage.

Internationally, female genital mutilation is considered as a violation of the human rights of girls and women as it involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue and interferes with the natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) has no health benefits for girls and women. FGM harms women’s psychological, sexual and reproductive health. Immediate consequences of FGM can include severe pain, shock, excessive bleeding, tetanus, urine retention and injury to nearby genital tissues. Long-term consequences of FGM can include recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, infertility, increased risk to childbirth complications and newborn deaths and increased vulnerability to HIV.

Dear Counselor, I am a girl of 14 years. A boy told me that if I don’t have sex, I will not grow and my breasts will remain small. Is it true?

Thank you for inquiring. Both reasons given to you for sex by this boy are wrong. The fact that you are in puberty, means that you grew from conception to infancy, childhood and now puberty, all without having sex to help you grow.
Breast size just like growth is also not determined by playing sex. At puberty, a hormone (substance that regulates body processes) called oestrogen, produced by the ovaries stimulates all major parts of your breasts to grow including the fatty tissue which makes the breasts grow bigger.
It is therefore not true that sex would make you grow or make you breasts bigger. Don’t be fooled by the boy who may even be having other intentions.
Your breasts may be smaller than those of your colleagues. This is normal because we all grow at different rates.

Dear Counselor, suppose you had sex with a girl, a few minutes before she is scheduled to start menstruation, can she get pregnant?

Menstruation happens after the unfertilized egg dies and if indeed this egg is dead, then you may not make the girl pregnant.  However, if this egg is not yet dead, a boy may get the girl pregnant and more so if it is an adolescent or teenager, most of whom whose cycles is not steady. Let us not forget that it is also hard to gauge how or what time exactly menstruation is really expected to start.

Dear Counselor, if a boy pulls his penis out before he comes or ejaculates, can a girl get pregnant?

Yes. It is possible for a girl to get pregnant even when the boy withdraws his penis before ejaculation. The “pre-come” (the lubricating fluid that leaks out of a boy’s penis before and during sex) contains sperm. If this fluid gets in or around a girl’s vagina, it can find its way inside and she can become pregnant. Girls should never be fooled that withdraw during unprotected sex is a protection against unwanted pregnancy or STIs.

Dear Counselor, can a girl wash out sperms and prevent unwanted pregnancy by urinating immediately after having unprotected sex?

Pregnancy can’t be prevented by a girl urinating after having unprotected sex. Urine exits the bladder through the urethra, which lies above the vaginal opening. This means that any sperm in the vagina won’t even get wet when a girl urinates. Unwanted pregnancy can be prevented by having protected sex. The best way to prevent unwanted pregnancy is to abstain until the right time.