Why are Women in the 21st Century Still Suffering with the Side Effects from Birth Control?
Contraception and the desire to stop pregnancy has existed for as long as sex itself. The earliest forms of birth control date back as far as 1850 BC where women used pessaries made of crocodile dung, honey and sodium carbonate to block or kill sperm. Silphium was a herbal form of birth control used extensively by the Ancient Romans and Greeks that its popularity drove it to extinct. Modern methods of contraception have come a long way since then and hormonal contraceptive methods developed in the 1950s and 60s were revolutionary for women’s reproductive autonomy and equality. But whilst medical technology has significantly developed since the mid 20th century, it seems that reproductive health has not. Women are still suffering with a wide range of side effects commonly associated with hormonal contraception, ranging from inconvenient ones like irregular periods, mood changes, headaches, acne or nausea, to more serious risks such as depression, increased blood pressure, or strokes. After my own experiences of trying numerous pills and enduring a painful IUD coil procedure, I became increasingly frustrated that my contraceptive choices were ultimately a compromise for reproductive autonomy. I felt as though making the decision to have the coil was the “best of the worst” and knowingly chose a painful procedure along with months of irregular bleeding and cramps, over the mental effects from the pill.
As a political science student, I really wanted to use my dissertation as an opportunity to scrutinise why women have to make compromises when it comes to their reproductive health and tackle contraception as a societal taboo. My question title focused on examining young women’s lived experience of contraception, using a feminist analysis of women’s reproductive and sexual autonomy. Along with conducting a focus group, I circulated a survey asking participant’s honest thoughts and experiences of contraception. Amazingly, after receiving 800 responses, the message was really clear – women wanted reproductive autonomy and control over their bodies, but not at the expense of their physical and mental health. It is true that women accept the knowledge that their health is a potential sacrifice for reproductive autonomy, because this is the only option that the medical profession offers them. Women must accept pain as part of their biological make-up, which is something that men do not have to accept.
We know this double-standard exists because a few years ago, a research study for a new male pill was discontinued after dangerous side effects such as acne, mood swings and depression surfaced. Ironically, these same “dangerous” side effects implicate women everyday through FDA approved contraceptives currently on the market. More recently, after reports proved that the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine had the potential risk for blood clots, European countries quickly abandoned its use. This decision has prompted women to question why hormonal contraception has not been taken seriously or treated as quickly, despite a much higher risk from the contraceptive pill than the vaccine. Arguably, the harsh reality of this is due to an epistemic injustice and a gender health gap where women’s health is under researched and underfunded. Endometriosis as a female disease, demonstrates the way in which the medical profession has failed to properly treat women’s bodies. Despite affecting approximately 1 in 10 women, endometriosis has been awarded little attention and is frequently treated with the contraceptive pill or a hysterectomy. These inappropriate treatments are the result of this epistemic injustice where female pain is not valued in the same way as men’s. For the case of contraception, since it does not directly affect the “universal man”, the medical and drug industry have paid little attention to find more suitable and less risky methods, knowing that women will accept the side effect because so much more is at stake for them.
Another key issue I discovered from my research, was the burden of responsibility which women face when it comes to birth control. 89.6% of participants from my survey agreed that women feel more pressured to use contraception than men and only 32% admitted the decision to use contraception was entirely their own. Due to women’s reproductive role, society has placed contraceptive responsibility onto women even though preventing or planning pregnancy concerns both men and women. Many women from my research admitted that if more contraceptive methods were available for all genders, relationships would be a lot fairer, which would be a necessary step towards gender equality.
I believe one of the main issues effecting women’s reproductive healthcare is representation. When contraception is produced by a male dominated medical sphere and implemented by a male dominated political sphere, it is no wonder that women’s voices and experiences are muted. The fact that hormonal contraception available today is invasive, painful and inconvenient, prove that they were not designed by women. It is up to us as women to not brush it off as part of being a woman and open up the discourse surrounding women’s reproductive health.
My dissertation also concerned societal attitudes towards sex through analysing the Virgin/Whore narrative, where women throughout history and the media are presented as either pure and good or sexual and evil. These polarized perceptions of women’s sexuality pressures women to keep their sexual encounters in check in fear that they will be given a bad reputation. When men are identified as players for sleeping around whilst girls are labelled sluts, this shows how a double bind exists which has ultimately contributed to the taboo around contraception. The harmful narrative that women using contraception makes them promiscuous still exists, leading young women in particular to avoid talking openly about contraception. Tackling the taboo of contraception and sex is crucial in order for women to honestly voice their experiences of birth control.
The most important conclusion I found was that it is in no way anti-feminist to challenge contraception. It is both possible to be grateful for the freedom it has given us whilst simultaneously wanting less invasive or painful methods. I genuinely hope that opening up conversations will work to tackle the taboo and put pressure on the medical profession to start taking women’s reproductive health more seriously. In the mean-time, we as ladies will keep setting alarms reminding us to take the pill and conveniently blame a bad day on the hormones – at least that’s one advantage.