No, Ricki. No, Ricki.
You know how the invention of the contraceptive pill was one of the most defining moments of the women’s liberation movement, allowing women control over their own bodies and the freedom to choose when (and whether) to have children?
Well, 90s talk show doyenne Ricki Lake reckons it – along with the many other ‘unnatural’ modern forms of contraception, such as contraceptive rings and implants – needs to go. Lake’s warning women off hormonal birth control (and encouraging periodic abstinence — AKA the rhythm method) is a stance widely promoted by conservative Christians.
Lake suggests women instead learn more about their fertility cycles, so they can simply abstain from sex during their fertile period. Apart from the inconvenience of attempting to track when you may or may not be ovulating, most women aren’t exactly champing at the bit for messy period sex, which leaves about two weeks at best per month for sex. Or, you could use the other non-hormonal alternative – male or female condoms – she says.
Lake and director Abby Epstein are basing their documentary on Holly Grigg-Spall’s book, Sweetening the Pill – which was filled with since debunked scientific claims about the certain side-effects of the pill, Slate reports.
Related: IT’S OK: You can finally stop freaking out about The Pill.
The magazine says the genuine risk of increased blood clots from the pill was minor and still far below the risk associated with pregnancy.
Top Comments
I do think that it helps to be more informed about the possible effects of the pill. I was given the pill by a doctor when I was 17 without any warnings of the side effects and I developed a pretty bad emotional response. I used to wake up crying, my emotions were all over the place, I just felt so sad and low motivation that affected my relationships and my studies, I thought it was onset of depression that can develop at around that age - but I was too scared at the time to tell anyone how I felt.
It wasn't until I stopped taking the pill a couple years later and felt so much better that I realized it was due to the change of hormones caused by birth control. I feel sad that those years were spent in such misery.
I later had to go on birth control for a couple weeks as part of an IVF cycle (How ironic needing IVF after all those years of screwing up my mind to try to not get pregnant!), and even though I experienced the same lows, understanding why I was feeling that way made it so much easier rather then thinking it was just something in my head.
I gained a lot of weight very quickly after going on the pill in my teens. I also lost my appetite completely and struggled to eat even one kiwi fruit on most days. I stopped using the pill in my early twenties and opted for the rhythm method. After having my last child (all our kids were planned btw) in my late twenties I went back on the pill for about 6 months. I decided, for no particular reason, that I would stop the pill and we would use condoms. No argument from the husband and we have been very happy, pregnancy free, frequent sex havers, for almost twenty years now. Each to their own.