50 yrs of.. "The Pill"

[Lumpy 1]

In the year, 2010 women will be celebrating (or not) 50 years of the approval of the pill for contraceptive use in the United States.

Since then we've seen the sexual revolution, women representing 50% of the work force, breakage of glass ceilings, the rise and fall of the femi-nazis, family structure changes and so forth.

I wonder how women feel about their present position, is there a yearning for tradition, do they feel stuck in the now, do they feel better off..

A Boon or a Bane...?

 

[chanel]

Women can have it all Lumpy. College, work, family. It can be difficult with so many choices, but not everyone is cut out to be a stay at home mom. That's why I admire women in Congress (yes like Sarah Palin and even Michelle Obama) who seem like good moms and are successful in their own careers.

Feminazis tend to think women should be childless and not shave their arm pits. True feminists believe every woman has the right to stay home or work or both. And they believe in shaving.

The pill has been a God-send for smart women who have goals and try to plan their life accordingly.

 

[xotoxi]

Does everyone know the original sinister reason why oral contraceptives were developed?

 

[chanel]

Share please.

 

[xotoxi]

Eugenics.

The proponents of OCPs wanted to control the population of rapidly reproducing minorities. (Wm Joyce would have been proud).

Read about Margaret Sanger anywhere you would like and it will say something about it.

 

[goldcatt]

Women can have it all Lumpy. College, work, family. It can be difficult with so many choices, but not everyone is cut out to be a stay at home mom. That's why I admire women in Congress (yes like Sarah Palin and even Michelle Obama) who seem like good moms and are successful in their own careers.

Feminazis tend to think women should be childless and not shave their arm pits. True feminists believe every woman has the right to stay home or work or both. And they believe in shaving.

The pill has been a God-send for smart women who have goals and try to plan their life accordingly.

I haven't met many real "Feminazis", but otherwise I'm with you here. The pill gave women power of choice in their own lives, no matter how or why that came about it's something worth celebrating. It's also worth remembering that like all power it should be used wisely.

 

[PixieStix]

Eugenics.

The proponents of OCPs wanted to control the population of rapidly reproducing minorities. (Wm Joyce would have been proud).

Read about Margaret Sanger anywhere you would like and it will say something about it.

Indeed

Her interest in eugenics -- which aimed to cap breeding by "inferior" humans (nonwhites, the disabled, and the insane) inflamed critics, as did her support of the controversial 1950s pill trials in Puerto Rico, in which poor women were given dangerous, sometimes fatal doses.

In short she was a racist bitch

 

[chanel]

Feminazis have no respect for traditional families with stay at home moms. I have enormous respect for any woman who chooses that route (as long as they can afford to). Just wasn't for me.

 

[judyd]

One thing that does concern me is that along with the pill, we have had a huge increase in ovarian and breast cancer, and yet no one will try to prove a link between them. A few years ago a study was done which said there was an increase in cancer in women who took estrogen therapy after menopause, but that seemed to be largely ignored.

I question the safety of using birth control pills for several years. And now they have a pill that cuts a woman's menstrual periods down to four a year. This just doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do.

 

[Lumpy 1]

One thing that does concern me is that along with the pill, we have had a huge increase in ovarian and breast cancer, and yet no one will try to prove a link between them. A few years ago a study was done which said there was an increase in cancer in women who took estrogen therapy after menopause, but that seemed to be largely ignored.

I question the safety of using birth control pills for several years. And now they have a pill that cuts a woman's menstrual periods down to four a year. This just doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do.

I would think that the repercussions of the pill or for that matter abortions would be a great concern for women. Messing with there biological systems would seem worthy of allot of research.
It is possible that women don't really want to know or the abortion and pharmaceutical lobby's don't want them to know the long and short range effects?

 

[Emma]

In the year, 2010 women will be celebrating (or not) 50 years of the approval of the pill for contraceptive use in the United States.

Since then we've seen the sexual revolution, women representing 50% of the work force, breakage of glass ceilings, the rise and fall of the femi-nazis, family structure changes and so forth.

I wonder how women feel about their present position, is there a yearning for tradition, do they feel stuck in the now, do they feel better off..

A Boon or a Bane...?

Um.

No yearning to return to those days, pill or not, thanks.

 

[Zoom-boing]

In the year, 2010 women will be celebrating (or not) 50 years of the approval of the pill for contraceptive use in the United States.

Since then we've seen the sexual revolution, women representing 50% of the work force, breakage of glass ceilings, the rise and fall of the femi-nazis, family structure changes and so forth.

I wonder how women feel about their present position, is there a yearning for tradition, do they feel stuck in the now, do they feel better off..

A Boon or a Bane...?

You forgot the huge, badass shoulder pads and hair of the 80's.

 

[judyd]

One thing that does concern me is that along with the pill, we have had a huge increase in ovarian and breast cancer, and yet no one will try to prove a link between them. A few years ago a study was done which said there was an increase in cancer in women who took estrogen therapy after menopause, but that seemed to be largely ignored.

I question the safety of using birth control pills for several years. And now they have a pill that cuts a woman's menstrual periods down to four a year. This just doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do.

I would think that the repercussions of the pill or for that matter abortions would be a great concern for women. Messing with there biological systems would seem worthy of allot of research.
It is possible that women don't really want to know or the abortion and pharmaceutical lobby's don't want them to know the long and short range effects?

It certainly seems that way. It isn't that hard to see that my mother's generation in the 40's and 59's didn't have the pill and didn't have the high numbers of ovarian and breast cancer. They also didn't use the estrogen therapy for menopause as frequently either. Now with so many people using the pill, breast and ovarian cancers are almost in epidemic numbers.

I think when you start messing with the normal workings of the reproductive system for many years, you're asking for problems in the future. Unfortunately the pharmaceutical companies have a lot more power than the women in the country.

 

[geauxtohell]

One thing that does concern me is that along with the pill, we have had a huge increase in ovarian and breast cancer, and yet no one will try to prove a link between them. A few years ago a study was done which said there was an increase in cancer in women who took estrogen therapy after menopause, but that seemed to be largely ignored.

I question the safety of using birth control pills for several years. And now they have a pill that cuts a woman's menstrual periods down to four a year. This just doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do.

I don't think it's been ignored at all. The Women's Health Initiative of 2001-02 changed the standards of care and practice across the country.

However, what you are talking about is the practice of using estrogen in post-menopausal women to treat those symptoms, not birth control. The WHI found that estrogen increased cardiac mortality events

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/288/3/321

Some cancers (especially breast cancers) have estrogen receptors and so estrogen makes them more proliferative.

I think the biggest risk for the pill is blood clots.

 

[geauxtohell]

It certainly seems that way. It isn't that hard to see that my mother's generation in the 40's and 59's didn't have the pill and didn't have the high numbers of ovarian and breast cancer. They also didn't use the estrogen therapy for menopause as frequently either. Now with so many people using the pill, breast and ovarian cancers are almost in epidemic numbers.

I think when you start messing with the normal workings of the reproductive system for many years, you're asking for problems in the future. Unfortunately the pharmaceutical companies have a lot more power than the women in the country.

The pharmaceutical companies can't make woman take anything nor can they make Drs. use their product or follow a treatment regiment that has been shown to have adverse outcomes.

 

[judyd]

One thing that does concern me is that along with the pill, we have had a huge increase in ovarian and breast cancer, and yet no one will try to prove a link between them. A few years ago a study was done which said there was an increase in cancer in women who took estrogen therapy after menopause, but that seemed to be largely ignored.

I question the safety of using birth control pills for several years. And now they have a pill that cuts a woman's menstrual periods down to four a year. This just doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do.

I don't think it's been ignored at all. The Women's Health Initiative of 2001-02 changed the standards of care and practice across the country.

However, what you are talking about is the practice of using estrogen in post-menopausal women to treat those symptoms, not birth control. The WHI found that estrogen increased cardiac mortality events

JAMA -- Abstract: Risks and Benefits of Estrogen Plus Progestin in Healthy Postmenopausal Women: Principal Results From the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Trial, July 17, 2002, Writing Group for the Women's Health Initiative Investig

Some cancers (especially breast cancers) have estrogen receptors and so estrogen makes them more proliferative.

I think the biggest risk for the pill is blood clots.

They do seem to be taking more risks these days though. It doesn't seem all that healthy to suppress menstrual periods to only four a year. I don't think the possible risks later in life are worth any presumed convenience today.

 

[geauxtohell]

One thing that does concern me is that along with the pill, we have had a huge increase in ovarian and breast cancer, and yet no one will try to prove a link between them. A few years ago a study was done which said there was an increase in cancer in women who took estrogen therapy after menopause, but that seemed to be largely ignored.

I question the safety of using birth control pills for several years. And now they have a pill that cuts a woman's menstrual periods down to four a year. This just doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do.

I don't think it's been ignored at all. The Women's Health Initiative of 2001-02 changed the standards of care and practice across the country.

However, what you are talking about is the practice of using estrogen in post-menopausal women to treat those symptoms, not birth control. The WHI found that estrogen increased cardiac mortality events

JAMA -- Abstract: Risks and Benefits of Estrogen Plus Progestin in Healthy Postmenopausal Women: Principal Results From the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Trial, July 17, 2002, Writing Group for the Women's Health Initiative Investig

Some cancers (especially breast cancers) have estrogen receptors and so estrogen makes them more proliferative.

I think the biggest risk for the pill is blood clots.

They do seem to be taking more risks these days though. It doesn't seem all that healthy to suppress menstrual periods to only four a year. I don't think the possible risks later in life are worth any presumed convenience today.

Well, you are certainly entitled to make up your own mind on the use of contraception, as is every other woman.

BTW, what risks "later in life" are you talking about?

OCs decrease the risk of certain cancers and it's not clear if they increase or decrease the risk of breast cancer.

Oral Contraceptives and Cancer Risk: Q & A - National Cancer Institute

There is a correlation between OCs and cervical cancer, but that is due to HPV, and I am sure we can connect the dots on that one.