My husband says we cannot have sex while I am on my period because it's unhealthy. Is that true from a medical point of view, or is it just a taboo?

--Natasha

Intercourse during a woman's period has been a common taboo throughout the world, in many different cultures and time periods. In some societies, women were isolated from the rest of the community during the menses. One reason for this is that blood may attract predators, and the society did not want to put the entire tribe or village at risk. Another is that women were thought to have special powers during "that time of the month."

For the average, mutually monogamous couple with no sexually transmitted disease, there is no medical reason to avoid sex during menses. Blood is a good medium for certain infectious agents to grow in, and blood does transmit the HIV virus, so certainly those at risk should not have sex during a period -- or ever have sex without a condom.