If you’ve been following my blog for a while you know I teach the Justisse Method of fertility awareness. Questions I get asked a lot are, how is this method different from others? What makes it unique? Or, why should I use this over any other method?
This post will explain all that and more!
Did you know there are a ton of fertility awareness methods out there?!? More than you probably imagined?!? These include Billings, Creighton, Marquette, Justisse, symptothermal, 2 Days, Standard Days, Lactational Amenorrhea Method, and others!
When I originally started getting interested in the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), I didn’t know where to start! What I did know was that this practice originated in the Catholic Church (it was, and still is, the only accepted method of birth control for Catholics).
So I took a class with Serena, a Canadian organization running classes for couples, to see if it was really something I was interested in. Can you guess the answer to that? I was definitely interested!
But I knew I wanted a training program that was secular, feminist, and open to teaching people FAM regardless of their religion, culture, politics, marital status, or sexual or gender orientation.
Because of this my choices were limited, but thankfully there are two really great training programs in North America. We have Justisse and Grace of the Moon.
I did my training in Justisse and the rest is history! What does this mean for you? How is Justisse different from other methods?
Here are some key points for you as a practitioner of the Justisse Method.
- We are secular & feminist (compared to others that are religious)
- We teach all menstruators who are interested in learning (compared to some others that teach only married or engaged heterosexual couples)
- We focus on holistic hormonal health (compared to others that are more focused on just charting)
- You can use anything from abstinence to withdrawal during your fertile phase if you are avoiding pregnancy (compared to others who promote abstinence-only)
- We use a standardized chart and language (compared to others that are more subjective)
- We record sensation, colour, and stretchiness as three unique mucus qualities (compared to others that are less detailed)
- Justisse can be used as a mucus-only method, if preferred (compared to others that require temperature readings to be accurate)
- The fertile phase of your cycle starts when you see mucus, so you are considered infertile up to the last dry day (compared to others that say fertility starts on day 6 of the cycle)
- After Peak Day, you don’t become infertile again until the evening of the fourth day after Peak (compared to others that say the evening of the third day is infertile)
So which method should you use?
In the end it’s up to you to choose, since there are so many, and it all comes down to personal preference.
The reason I chose Justisse is because I liked the detailed observations and standardized charts. This meshed more with my brain and the way I think and it felt more comfortable for me.
Some reasons you might want to choose Justisse over others may be:
- Wanting to learn from a secular, feminist perspective
- Wanting to focus on holistic health
- Wanting a more standardized method of describing mucus
- Wanting to use standardized charts
- Wanting the option for mucus-only
- Availability of a teacher/classes or how you feel about the teacher
Remember that a lot of the methods have a lot of similarities, so do some reading and see what resonates with you. There’s a great list here some of the different methods (keep in mind that there are multiple different organizations that teach the same method, so do some searching and see what’s available near you).
Also remember, just because you learn one way doesn’t mean you have to practice that way forever. And some methods may be more useful at different stages of your life than others. As long as you don’t mix methods (that’s a recipe for disaster!) you can play around with a few and see which one works best for you. Let me know if you want to learn Justisse or have any questions about it!
Got a question? Want to learn more about Justisse? Check out my programs or contact me!