title: Can I get pregnant from oral sex? Sexual health misconceptions in e-mails to a reproductive health website.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study identifies sexual and reproductive health misconceptions contained in e-mails sent to an emergency contraception website.
  
  
  METHODS
  From July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2004, 1134 English-language questions were e-mailed to http://ec.princeton.edu. We performed content analysis on these e-mails and grouped misconceptions into thematic categories.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the questions sent during the study period, 27% (n=303, total N=1134) evinced underlying misconceptions about sexual and reproductive health issues. Content analysis revealed five major thematic categories of misconceptions: sexual acts that can lead to pregnancy; definitions of "protected" sex; timing of pregnancy and pregnancy testing; dangers that emergency contraceptives pose to women and fetuses; and confusion between emergency contraception and abortion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These misconceptions have several possible sources: abstinence-only sexual education programs in the US, the proliferation of medically inaccurate websites, terminology used in public health campaigns, non-evidence-based medical protocols and confusion between emergency contraception and medication abortion in the media.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Wynn
authors.forename: Angel M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Trussell
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D009229:Mythology; D018456:Reproductive Medicine; D012736:Sex Education / Q000592:standards*