Sex shapes us in some tricky ways. 

The desire for sex without consequences led us to the invention of birth control technologies in the 1950s. Hormonal birth control has had a significant impact on what our relationships look like today, and how generations of the future will look. 

98% of sexually active women in the U.S. have been on birth control at some point in their lives. Gentlemen, it is likely that the woman you love is on some form of hormonal birth control. 

The Pill effects men just as it does women. Your Ladies mood, libido, health, your future children, and overall relationship happiness are affected by hormonal birth control; the fact that she chose you as her mate, is affected by the fact she’s taking The Pill. 

Every woman on The Pill has at some point questioned what the hormones in The Pill are doing to her body and brain, she pops the pill, and moves on with her day. The effects and lifestyle changes from coming off The Pill are too much to wrap her head around.

A woman’s body is complex. In Western culture, we tend to oversimplify the way the the female body and emotional health of women operate. 

The birth control pill (also known as The Pill) can be a tool of empowerment for women; it’s obvious why: 

“The dramatic increase in women’s education, college and professional degrees, and participation in the labour market since the 1960s can also be partly explained by birth control innovations.”

What does The Birth Control Pill do? 

1. When a woman takes The Pill, she is ingesting synthetic hormones. A signal is sent to the brain, notifying that there is no need to make more hormones. 
2. As a result, the brain does not produce hormones, and the ovaries don’t get a signal from the brain to create hormones. 
3. Communication between the brain and ovaries is shut down. 
4. This means that the ovaries do not get a signal from the brain to ovulate, so, no egg is released. 

This parts crazy, and most women who are on The Pill don’t even know it; the periods that a woman gets while on The Pill are not real. During the week of her period, when not taking the hormones, she experience’s “withdrawal bleeding”, from the withdrawal of hormone levels. 

A woman’s sex hormones (the hormones being affected by The Pill) affect her mood. Just like a man’s sex hormones affect his mood; we all know this is true.

There are many side effects to The Pill, and we do not yet know the long-term effects.

Start at 17:12

Think of the 15 year old girl who starts The Pill, before her brain has fully developed, leaving her more vulnerable to the influence of hormonal signaling.

Many of us have women in our lives who have been on The Pill for 5-10 years. That’s 5-10 years of a woman’s natural hormones being suppressed, and any of the above side effects being generated. 

Perhaps autonomy and empowerment for women comes from learning the cyclical nature of how her body works.