NEWS nicolemarieburton@yahoo.ca Getting in Touch with Your..Nuvaring? Nicole Burton, News Editor For most of us, being a student means a busy schedule. A lot of female students can relate that during such a time, one of the first things you’re gonna forget is to be taking a birth-control pill at the same time every day. There are new contraceptives coming out on the market every year, but are they as effective? As this is the Sex Issue of the Other Press, we are taking a look at a new product called the Nuvaring, which became available in Canada last January. It’s a thin flexible ring, 4mm thick and 5.4 cm wide, which is inserted vaginally for three weeks and is then removed for one week for a menstrual period. The product is made of an inert polymer, and slowly releas- es estrogen and progesterone. The steady dose of the two hormones acts as a block against the hormonal surge needed for a woman’s body to release an egg, and prevents pregnancy. “Tt is the only once-a-month contraceptive on the Canadian market,” says Dr. Nancy Durand, gynecologist at Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. “Like other hormonal contracep- tives, it inhibits ovulation and alters cervical mucous to prevent sperm penetration. The dose of estrogen in the Nuvaring is significantly lower than birth control pills, allowing for fewer side effects, yet it is still 99 percent effective in preventing pregnancy.” The Nuvaring is now being specifically geared towards a student market for the product’s obvious appeal to women with busy lives. “The Nuvaring is a great choice for the busy woman who may forget to take pills or who finds it difficult to take them at the same time every day. It is great for the woman who is looking for a contraceptive method at a very low dose to minimize side effects yet maintain efficacy in pre- venting pregnancy.” According to Durand, over 80 per- cent of surveyed women using the Nuvaring prefer it to their previous method of contraception. Students will also be interested to know that it is covered by about 80 percent of private insurers. Around 90-95 percent of women in Canada are cov- ered by private insurers. Before women run out to buy the Nuvaring, they should do their research. Because the product is a hor- monal contraceptive, it poses increased health risks for people with blood disorders like diabetes, phlebitis, blood clotting, and heart disease. For a full report on the Nuvaring, check out: www.healthsquare.com/newrx/nuv1624.htm. For more information on the Nuvaring, students can also check out: www.nuvating.com www.mybirthcontrol.ca www.sexualityandu.ca/eng/adults/CN/nuvaring.cfm Students to “Take Back the Night” for second straight year Chloé Fedio, The Gateway (University of Alberta) violence against women. December 6, 1989. stop violence.” said Jackson. EDMONTON (CUP)—For the second year in a row, University of Alberta female students have taken the lead to organize a local Take Back the Night event to protest Take Back the Night began in England in the 1970s as a women-only protest against the violence and fear women encountered walking the streets at night. It came to North America in 1978 in San Francisco as a protest of sexual assault and violence against women, and has spread across the globe. The march will move through the downtown area, stopping at a few landmark locations, such as Mary Burley Park. The park was built in memory of the 14 engi- neering students killed in their classroom at Ecole Polytechnique in Montréal on “What’s ironic about Mary Burley Park is that it’s a park that’s dedicated to women and activism, and yet hardly any women use it because it’s in a part of town where women don’t feel safe,” said U of A graduate and director of Take Back the Night this year and in 2004, Cassie Oxenford. “So that’s kind of why we feel that’s it’s important to go through there every year.” “The march is basically a march to raise awareness about violence against women and how many different forms violence against women takes in society,” said Oxenford. “It’s kind of a symbolic representation of how women can rely on each other for support and how women need to communicate with each other in order to Though the march is mainly about women, it welcomes men as well in the hopes of spreading awareness. “I think this year we were really adamant that it included everybody, women and men alike. We just want to stress that everybody is welcome,” Oxenford said the march is about revolutionizing the way people think about vio- lence and to affect a meaningful solution to violence against women. “Tt’s really a matter of changing people’s mindsets, rather than giving tips. Stay in groups, or, Make sure you have a man with you, are Band-Aid solutions to a much deeper problem,” said Oxenford. “Tt’s really appalling how many women have gone missing and are unaccounted for. I think that as women, we need to get together and talk about this, and think about how we can stop it. These are people, these are women, and it can’t be dis- missed, because if we dismiss one, we dismiss everyone,” she said.