If you know anything about me at all you know that while I am generally placid, I have my quirks. Some topics of which that are guaranteed to light my fire include:
- Oogies in my Orange Juice
- People who insist on asking stupid questions in lecture
- Chemical birth control
I have finally decided that today is the day i resolve my feelings, forget my pain an move on. And I'm not talking about confronting a pulpy orange juice, that is just disgusting. And you stupid question askers, you will feel my wrath for at least another 6 months. It is time to let go of my hurt and anger and horrible associations with "The Pill," "The Ring," and "The Shot." Here goes a lot of stuff...
Yesterday I read this article in the Baltimore Sun which just added on more delightful reason to my ever growing list, "Why I hate Chemical Birth Control (And why you should too.)" It is a simple, mostly harmless article about birth control and how it deadens our logic as women and causes us to prefer the pheromones our first cousin gives off to that of a person with completely different genetic make-up. A mistake that can lead to a host of awkward conversations at family events as well as the increased potential for miscarriages and birth defect and diseases such as Tay-Sachs.
After ingesting this information, I, in my usual way, shook my head, crossed my arms and sucked my teeth.
You see, I hate birth control and everything it means. I think it is the most ridiculous answer man has ever given to a question no one should be allowed to ask : What to do about that pesky side effect of Nature, conception? Touted as the answer to Women's Lib, we have been told for nearly 50 years that birth control is a sign of our freedom.
"We finally have a choice! To be pregnant or not to be pregnant, that is your decision! Don't count on HIM."
HELLO? Did anyone go to health class? It was our decision from the beginning. Long before you heaved that sigh in his ear and kissed that french kiss, you had a choice. Regardless of the moral consequences that the freedom to terminate an enumerable amount of lives has caused (In case you didn't know, the pill and the ring and other estrogen based birth control methods allow for eggs to be fertilized and grow into tiny, thriving blastocysts-yes, little babies- and then flushes them from your body like nuclear waste at the end of each cycle.) look with me for one moment at the physical side effects women put themselves through:
- Blood clots
- Hormonal imbalances
- Sterility
- Heart failure
- Low/ High blood pressure
- Anxiety, Depression, and thoughts of Suicide
- Extremely long/ short periods
- Weight gain
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Bone Density Loss.... ETC ETC ETC
Why you crazy women choose to do these things to yourselves, I will never understand, nor will I try to. And this isn't even about you. Go on. continue to feed you ovaries caustic materials, if you don't mind, how can I?
This is about me, and how I feel, and the fact that this keeps me awake at night, strains my relationships with some people and really just ends in me embittered towards them. i have to resort to the old model of communication for how this makes me feel:
When you... Tell me to keep my opinions to my self
It makes me feel... sad and worthless
Because... I have thoughts too.
The system in our culture is imbalanced and tilted AGAINST my favor. It is acceptable and even "responsible" to use hormonal birth control, but for those of us that prefer to wait until they are capable and secure enough to support a child to have sex, we are shooed to the kids table while the adults go on Sex and The City and parade themselves around us in a high and exalted fashion. Or (gasp) those of us that, while we see the allure in another's eye, and while we fall in sexual sin, choose not to alter our bodies natural chemistry and opt for barrier or spermicidal measures of safe sex.
Why is it ok for you to mock, shame and even make me feel left out of the cool club because of my choices? You truly don't know enough about me, nor do you care enough to have the right to treat me disdainfully.
And your answer to me is "Well, keep your opinions to yourself and no one will judge you"
Excuse me?
You can flaunt your choices left and right, throwing your judgement on me if i don't follow suit, telling me about your health issues while I sit, lips pursed unable to solve your problems for you? I don't judge you, I just tell you the truth and how I feel.
But you? You can judge me?
Sorry for caring.
Do you care? Have you ever once asked me why I feel the way I do?
Perhaps you said that I am an extreme conservative when I say that if you don't like condoms, maybe you shouldn't have sex, or you should be in a committed and stable relationship and place in your life.
Perhaps you tell me that I only adopt my views to threaten your manhood, and that I would gladly give into the next man that comes around.
Perhaps you don't listen to any of my outcries and you threaten to take away your approval of me if I don't comply. Maybe you're the one that holds my arm down on the table and forces me to make a decision I will regret for the rest of my life because you want to break my spirit into a million indeterminable pieces.
Maybe I am just an old-school, back woods, baby loving extremist.
Or maybe, I am a respectful, loving, calm, truthful heart with a story to tell that if you cared about for one moment-who knows- I might change your life.
6 comments:
I mostly agree. I've never used the pill or any other hormonal contraceptive. I feel like it is unnatural and unfair to my body.
Condoms just feel like a better choice.
:-P
wow i didnt know what i was gonna find surfin your pages but damn loui that was pretty deep dont let ANYONE push u aside and tell u what to think, ever
what if it is used for cramps and regularity? cuz i got some madd cramps and was sick for a whole day and no over the counter crap helped. this is my only reasoning. ima whimp, but it's better than having to take a day off each month
My older sister and a friend from Salisbury are both some of the ones that used it and got a blood clot, I don't blame you for wanting to avoid that.
I think you're right, Louise, and not only because of the bad side effects. In Christian circles throughout history, birth control has always been understood to be a selfish measure on the part of both men and women. Only in the 20th century, when birth control suddenly became cheap and common, did it suddenly gain unexplained but widespread acceptance and even promotion in many evangelical circles. While I don't intend to speak condemnation on Christians that use it, it does give one pause to notice that we're acting as if for over 1,900 years our fathers in the faith seemed to have "missed" something that we enlightened people now understand. But I think it just goes along with our love of materialism and our insistence on having "choice" as our God-- even our Christian God.
I say this as someone who has used birth control in the past, but my mind has been strongly changing.
My question is, What if I really like pulp in my orange juce?
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