Hi all,

Despite being in my mid 20's I'm relatively new to the whole sex thing. I've recently started dating someone, and so thought it would be a good idea to go on birth control. The other night we were um, "fooling around," and tried having sex. It kind of worked (I won't go into details), but my bf said that he's had trouble with condoms in the past, and that him and his long-term gf just used the pill as an oral contraceptive.

I know that we should probably use condoms anyhow as birth control doesn't protect against STI's etc, but I guess I was just looking for any opinions/knowledge on how effective using just the pill is against becoming pregnant? Also, is it a huge deal if we don't use condoms? When I saw my family doc last week she went on this huge rant about STI's and how I should get vaccinated for HPV, and how even if guys get tested they can't necessarily detect if they're a carrier for things... but is that just her trying to scare me? I trust my GP, but am looking for other people's opinions ...

Thanks!
Jacq