How Hormonal Contraceptives Are Another Example of the Patriarchial Control of Women's Bodies

In 1960, the FDA approved the use of oral contraceptives, colloquially known as “the Pill.” Alas, female sexual freedom had finally arrived!… Or had t?

Since its inception, more than 300 million women worldwide have taken the Pill. At face value, the Pill seemed like the Golden Ticket for women worldwide who didn’t want to risk getting pregnant and wanted to focus on their careers or just didn’t want to be a mother like society pressures women to be. However, and this is a big however, what are the physical and societal risks of taking the Pill?

The dark history of oral contraceptives

Besides the long history of other forms of contraception throughout history, mostly condoms, let’s not forget that in 1953, U.S. male scientists used poor Puerto Rican women as their guinea pigs to test the efficacy of the Pill before it went to market. As if that’s not horrific enough, the Pill has continued to be a way to enforce eugenics, racism, and patriarchy.

In 1969 studies were published that showed the high levels of estrogen in the original formulations of the Pill were dangerous. So in 1970, the level of estrogen was finally lowered.

Since then, other hormonal contraceptives have been developed including the IUD, patch, Depo shot, and implant which I’ve written about in much more detail in this post. We also can’t forget that most poor women and women of color have less access to contraceptives, except for sterilization, which is a whole other disturbing topic for another post.

As you can see, with the exception of male condoms, women have been the sole focus of contraception and the only focus for hormonal contraceptives, all of which come with their own risks. Let’s dig deeper into why this matters.

Oral contraceptives don’t cure hormonal imbalances and come with risks

This is what 99% of doctors don’t tell you: Oral contraceptives shut off your ovaries and put you in a chemical menopause. The bleeding that occurs is a fake period. It’s called a withdrawal bleed that male doctors who created the first Pill decided was necessary for women to have to mimic menstrual bleeding.

Although oral contraceptives have been shown to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer risk, especially in women who’ve taken them for 10+ years, there are a lot of physical issues that synthetic hormonal contraceptives can cause which I’ve talked about in the previous post I’ve cited above.

Now let’s talk about an important issue that’s rarely talked about: the rampant use of hormonal contraceptives among adolescents. A woman’s pituitary-ovary axis isn’t fully matured until a woman is often in her early to mid-20s. In lamens terms, this means that it can take more than a decade for a woman’s sex hormones to be in sync and for her to have regular periods, yet this is rarely taught to women.

Girls and women are taught at a young age that periods are nothing more than a nuisance and it, therefore, sucks to be a woman. Girls let alone women are rarely taught how their hormones and menstrual cycle work and what a healthy period looks like. Most teenage girls suffer from hormonal imbalances such as irregular periods, acne, and mood swings, yet this is a normal process during the first several years of puberty as the reproductive system matures.

A typical scenario looks like this: A girl goes to the doctor and complains about her period problems (many of which are normal depending on the age and can be improved with diet and lifestyle changes). Without asking any questions, the doctor whips out the prescription pad and writes a prescription for the Pill or equivalent hormonal contraceptive with little informed consent about the adverse effects such as low libido, vaginal dryness, poor mood, choosing the wrong partner, etc. (because you’re basically in menopause!).

Just to summarize, oral contraceptives: deplete micronutrients, negatively affect thyroid health, can perturb the gut microbiome, disrupts brain-ovary communication, shrinks the clitoris, and oral estrogen raises sex hormone binding globulin which soaks up free estrogen and testosterone leading to less drive, sex drive, and confidence and agency.

Synthetic hormones given to adolescent women set them up for disaster

Hormonal contraceptives given to adolescent women, especially before the mid-20s, can shut off the pituitary-hypothalamus-ovary communication which could have long-term health implications for the developing woman and her long-term menstrual health. This could mean that when you come off the Pill and want to have kids, your hormones are a hot mess and your brain doesn’t know how to send your ovaries the signals to produce estrogen to ovulate. Since hormonal contraceptives suppress ovulation, no progesterone is produced, which has major bone, heart, and mood health implications. But oh no, society says that periods suck so just pop the Pill. Give me a break.

Diet and lifestyle factors that can improve hormonal health naturally

Stress management, diet (hint: eat more fiber and whole foods), lifestyle (moderate exercise and toxin exposure), gut health, and family history of hormonal issues such as PCOS, endometriosis, premature ovarian failure, premature menopause, and fibroids are rarely talked about among female family members. And you’re lucky if your doctor asks you for a comprehensive family history let alone discuss diet and lifestyle factors with you! For a fascinating talk about female health, check out this podcast episode with Dr. Sara Gottfried.

Gut health, specifically the estrabolome which is a group of specific bacteria and their DNA that produce the enzyme beta-glucuronidase which can modulate circulating estrogen levels. Why does this matter? If you are constipated (not pooping every day and feel like you’ve completely emptied your bowels), you have more circulating estrogen. Ya gotta poop to eliminate excess estrogen. Most women’s period problems stem from having an excess of estrogen compared to progesterone, which leads to heavy periods, fibroids, mood swings, breast tenderness, etc. To reiterate, if you’re taking oral contraceptives, you aren’t ovulating and therefore aren’t producing progesterone which is a wonderful calming hormone.

Generational trauma and its effect on female hormones

The ACE (Adverse Childhood Event) study performed in 1998 shed some insightful light on the effect that traumatic events have on our long-term health. The Reader’s Digest version is people who have suffered more traumatic events (parent death, domestic abuse, alcoholic parent, economic struggle, surviving a war, sexual abuse, etc) are more likely to suffer at least one chronic disease.

We also know the effects generational trauma has on our epigenome (genetic expression, which is more important than your actual genetic codes). From an energetic perspective, these traumatic patterns can get inherited and affect your 1st and 10th (Earth chakra) chakras leading to a myriad of chronic health effects like autoimmune diseases. When was the last time your doctor asked you about generational trauma? That’s what I thought. Never.

Female fertility is a sign of overall health

As much as the patriarchy would love to control women’s bodies, the ancient wisdom about female fertility being a proxy for overall health is slowly emerging. Periods shouldn’t be feared but rather embraced as a sign of female creativity that stems from the Void. Female bodies are a physical representation of the zero point: the point of all creation.

Why aren’t men more of a focus for contraceptives?

If it takes two to tango to make a baby, why does the responsibility almost always fall on women? I call that bullshit.

What is it going to take for women to embrace their menstrual health and fertility as a sign of vitality and power? I believe the change has to start with the female matriarchs in the family teaching about the truths of menstrual health and embodying female fertility. Lord knows this change won’t come from men. It has to start with us.