A young woman has learned the hard way that a potato does not provide adequate contraception.
Nope, not by getting pregnant, but by having the vegetable germinate and grow roots inside her vagina.
That’s according to Colombia Reports, which writes the 22-year-old was admitted to hospital complaining of severe abdominal pains.
Do not put these inside you. OK?
The unnamed patient is quoted as saying: “My mom told me that if I didn’t want to get pregnant, I should put a potato up there, and I believed her.”
The newspaper adds upon examination of the woman, roots were found to be emerging from her vagina.
(We’ll take this one with a pinch of salt, but as dubious as it sounds, it is worth pointing out a dark, moist vagina would probably be an ideal place for a potato to germinate in... right?)
As well as being utterly vile, it highlights the very serious issue of a 22-year-old reportedly being naïve enough to believe such tripe.
The channel writes: “A recent campaign by Bienestar Familiar (ICBF) aimed at reducing the high levels of teenage pregnancy in Colombia stated that young people’s general rejection of conventional contraception methods, such as condoms and contraceptive pills, coupled with a macho society which often saw girls pressured into having unsafe sex, contributed to a high level of unwanted teenage pregnancies.”
And if you thought using a potato as a contraceptive was weird, unlikely, and solely limited to far flung corners of the world like Honda, Colombia, consider the fact that a recent survey of 1,500 British women aged 25-34 by Bayer Healthcare found some people are using cling film, sandwich bags and latex gloves as contraception.
Other alarming findings included that one in ten women believed it was impossible to get pregnant during your period, while 30% had needed to take the morning after pill.
The findings highlighted the need for better communication between GPs and young female patients. According to the results only 58% had fully explored all of the contraceptive options with their doctor.
People, please do not use potatoes, sandwich bags, cling film or latex gloves as contraceptives.