Monday, November 15, 2010

Birth Control

I have never been on birth control.  This maybe an over share for many people but I have mixed feelings about it.  I am by no means against birth control methods at all!  I should have paid more attention to them when I was 21. (sidenote: I say that but could not even imagine who I would be or how life would be without Parker, but still, I should have been smarter).  I think that it is extremely important to teach adolescents about all the different forms out there, whether they are sexually active or not.  I think that teaching abstinence is important but not the only form of sex education.  I think that all young people, regardless of private or public education has the right to know how their bodies work and how the opposite sex works as well.  I was in 4th grade when we started sex ed.  They divided the girls and the boys to minimize the embarrassment that goes along with learning about reproduction.  We learned all about our uteri, fallopian tubes, ovaries, and vaginas.  It was tough because I hadn't started my period yet, I was deathly afraid of puberty and I didn't want to know what was going to happen because I just simply didn't want to grow into a woman yet.  The next year, separately, we learned about the male reproductive system, the actual act of intercourse and the stages of fetal development.  The last year of grade school, collectively we watched The Miracle of Life that had a live birth at the end of it.  That year we learned about contraceptives, their use and STD prevention.  It was later once I was in high school that we learned about contraceptives in detail.  With all of this knowledge, I still never made the decision to be sexually active and on birth control.  There was and is a fear there about what it is doing to a woman's body.  I know that it is safe and can't imagine what the world would be like if Margaret Sanger hadn't started the birth control fight.  I understand the fight and sacrifice that she made to bring birth control to working women who didn't have control over their sexual life....the women that bore children that they didn't want to mother.  But changing the way that my body works hormonally scares me.  I know that there are benefits like less acne, lighter periods, and if I go on I will sound like a commercial.....but it is altering that way that I know my body works.  Since I became pregnant without knowing....without realizing that I had missed a period, I have learned to listen to my body better.  I know my body and changing what I know brings fear.  There is joy as well though....an extra insurance that reduces that possibility of pregnancy is fine by me.  Even saying that I am reminded of all the women I know who have become pregnant while taking birth control so I am looped back to my original thought....should we hormonally change the way our bodies work or listen to our bodies.  Obviously we can't know everything about our bodies with out very expensive research into how often we (individually) ovulate, if both ovaries work in the same month, opposite or even do they skip a month.....is it really independence we are gaining or is it a separation of our brains and our bodies working together or rather....is it a separation from ourselves and our nature. 

4 comments:

  1. You've never used a condom? Birth control encompasses all methods of contraception whether they are hormonal, barrier or other methods.

    Birth control is about choice. I choose to use oral contracpetives and that works for me. You choose not to do so.

    As long as you are protecting yourself or you and your partner have both had clean health bills and you are aware of the risks, then it's okay by me.

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  2. I guess I wasn't very clear...I meant hormonal birth control. I have used and only used condoms until yesterday. I made the choice for the first time to change methods and I am just working through my thoughts about it. And yes, a clean bill of health is very important, and yes...squeaky clean.

    The main thought that has consumed me is just the changing the way my body already works....I haven't even taken anything daily to alter how my body works. I think that anyone taking a prescription daily or has had to start doing that has the same feelings...or it's just me over thinking everything again :)

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  3. Margaret Sanger is my hero! Not so much for the birth control part (although I'm sure her efforts saved my ass many times), but because she was a tough cookie who stood up for what she believed in and fought hard to protect the lives of and rights of women all over the world. She epitomizes the feminist!!

    Got here from Melissa's little blogger feature. Glad I stopped by!

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  4. Thanks for stopping by! I love Sanger too. I started reading a biography about her and one of the first things the introduction said was that most of her personal life was unknown, many of the biographies had misinformation. I thought that was perfect that she can only be really known for what she did in the public life and not the private.

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