As I was just coming into womanhood, I visited a gynecologist regarding very irregular periods and minor acne. She said that I most likely had PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome, but there was no way to know for sure. The only “solution” she had for me was to go on birth control. This of course started the cresendu of side effects that many of us with vaginas are way too familiar with. It didn’t seem to make sense to me that preventing pregnancy would help me to be fertile in the future. In the name of logic and the sanctity of my mental health, I stopped birth control.
Luckily, I trusted my gut about birth control because my oh my have we had the wool pulled over our eyes. Holly Grigg-Spall writes all about the trickery of birth control in modern culture. We are told that it regulates our hormones or brings back our periods. In reality this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The pill completely ceases our ovulation. It stops the production of our own hormones by flooding them with artificial versions. If the particular form of birth control does include a time for bleeding, it is not menstruation blood and does not signify a regular cycle. It is withdrawal blood. Our reproductive system is being shut down and the shedding of the uterine lining occurs from a withdrawal of the synthetic hormones that are repressing the whole system. It is an artificially induced menopause when we withdrawal from which we bleed.
If you have never had fertility problems, you may be able to go off the pill and get preggers instantly. BUT, what about those women that went on the pill to “regulate their periods”? The underlying cause of their possible infertility has never been addressed. Birth control can work wonders for some people but, our bodies want to bleed. Ovulation supports healthy bones, heart, and breasts (UBC Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research). Women have also reported that the pill affects their senses, internal well being, sex drive, ambition, creativity and partner choice (this one is REALLY studied and talked about possibly because it could directly affect men?? Imagine that.) Could it be that the pill is making us more submissive, apathetic, or controllable?
Sources:
http://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/resources/preventive-powers-ovulation-and-progesterone
Sweetening the Pill by Holly Grigg-Spall
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/google-autocomplete-how-does-pill-work
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/birth-control-pills-affect-womens-taste/
Photo credit via St. Vincent - Pills