There's been news lately about male birth control. (And while I hate the binary of it all, that's how it will be referred to in this article.) All the menstruators of the world have seen the articles and laughed at how the poor, pitiful men can't handle the side effects of a birth control shot. Well, there's a story there.
Once upon a time there was no such thing as medical birth control. It was nothing but condoms and natural family planning and the pull-out method. Eventually, our buddy Margaret Sanger raised money to fund research for the first birth control pill in the 1950s. The birth control pill wasn't FDA approved until the 1960s though. And there's some dirty history surrounding the first birth control pill.
The first birth control pill was tested on women that were not informed of the potential side effects. When women started dropping out of trials, they forced incarcerated women and women in territories like Puerto Rico to be a part of the trials. Side effects that the women in all these trials were disregarded as women overreacting. Any uterus owner who has been to a gynecologist can attest to their pains being considered "lesser" because of the wildly inaccurate idea that women just can't handle their pain.
As a result of women's pain being systematically ignored, not much more research was put into the side effects of the birth control pills. And birth control isn't just for controlling birth. These pills also help lessen the symptoms of reproductive issues like endometriosis and PCOS and even control acne for some people. So we trade the symptoms of one for the side effects of another. That can be a touch decision that not everyone can make.
In the 1970s, Feminist activist worked to require the listing of side effects of birth control pills on the package. You know those little pamphlets in all the boxes your allergy pills and tylenol and every other medication come in? You can thank feminists for those. They worked so hard to make sure you had access to complete and accurate information about what you are putting your body!
It seems really shitty, right? But there is hope!
These new trials about men not being able to "handle" the side effects mean there is hope! I'm sure you've all seen this:
Well this might become a reality!! Since men's pain is taken more seriously, drug companies are much more likely to try and eliminate the side effects of these new methods. Which means more research for women's birth control! Which means we may see a form of birth control that will have few to no side effects in our life time! How Exciting!! I would love to not feel nauseous if I mess up a dose of my pill!
Another positive result of these issues is it may become more socially acceptable to have alternative forms of birth control to the pill and take a lot of the pressure off of the female in a heterosexual relationship to take control of providing contraception. WHICH IS FANTASTIC!
Remember, there's more to feminism than bra burning and misandry.
