What is FAM? Is it the same as the rhythm method?
FAM, the Fertility Awareness Method, is not the rhythm method. The rhythm method is basically the calendar method, where a woman would count the number of days in her cycle and assume that she was ovulating on a particular day. This is unreliable because ovulation can vary with individual cycles! NFP (Natural Family Planning) is very similar to FAM, the only difference is that NFP users abstain from sex in the fertile window and FAM users can use barriers of some type. A good description of FAM was written by Julie, julie215, slightly paraphrased: “First and foremost, since you are not planning to use a condom, please make sure that you and your partner are free of sexually transmitted infections. Some STI’s are for life, and one careless encounter can change everything. There are a number of factors that go into determining when you are fertile and should abstain from intercourse. I know there are a number of books on the market about natural family planning, the one I go by is Taking
