birth control rant
i've recently come to the conclusion that all women everywhere should go on strike -- we should refuse to have sex with any man until some scientist person invents a form of hormonal or long-term birth control option for men.
for about five years now, i've been using some sort of birth control. i've tried different methods, from condoms to different kind of pills and most recently the nuvaring. all of these methods have proved to have some problem for me, forcing me to discontinue using them.
i've tried several kinds of pills, all of which have done the same thing: i constantly have hives on my chest, neck and face, most likely caused by an allergic reaction to the synthetic hormones. the hives are not particularly awful or itchy, but they are bad enough to make me feel really self-conscious about myself. the hormones in the pill also totally mess with my sex drive which is another huge concern for me. so, i said fuck you to the pill and tried the nuvaring, which has the same hormones as the pill but in a much lower, localised dose. the hives came back in just a few days so i stopped using the ring. what about condoms, you say? well, i've never been comfortable enough just using condoms, or any barrier methods for that matter, when not used in combination with something hormonal. i don't trust them, and frankly, i don't really care for them either.
so, i've been talking with my doctor, and she thinks that my best option is an hormone-free IUD. it's more effective than anything else i've tried, and it won't have the same side effects that i'm used to. but, you have to go through a painful insertion and a few months of uncomfortableness. it can also make you infertile, which at this point i would welcome, so i can stop worrying about birth control.
anyway, i find this all very unfair. why is it that men have two options: wear a condom or get a vasectomy. obviously, not many men this age would consider the latter. it's kind of an unfair solution to the birth control problem for someone under the age of, say, thirty or even forty. so, they can wear a condom. no harm, no foul, they wear a condom, they're happy. they don't have to worry about all of the ridiculous side effects of birth control pills, patches, shots, implants or rings. not to mention, they don't have to pay for the prescription, either. they don't even have the option to worry about these things. i just find it all very puzzling that if scientists are smart enough to figure out hormonal and long-term birth control methods for women, why can't they do the same for men?
this is where the strike comes in. i think that (men) scientists are deliberately not trying to find a birth control method for men because they know it can be a tedious task finding the right kind for a specific person. they probably also don't want to deal with remembering to take something everyday, or pay for a prescription out of pocket. so, this is why i think that women need to refuse to have sex with men until someone figures this out. otherwise, they will never attempt it.
for about five years now, i've been using some sort of birth control. i've tried different methods, from condoms to different kind of pills and most recently the nuvaring. all of these methods have proved to have some problem for me, forcing me to discontinue using them.
i've tried several kinds of pills, all of which have done the same thing: i constantly have hives on my chest, neck and face, most likely caused by an allergic reaction to the synthetic hormones. the hives are not particularly awful or itchy, but they are bad enough to make me feel really self-conscious about myself. the hormones in the pill also totally mess with my sex drive which is another huge concern for me. so, i said fuck you to the pill and tried the nuvaring, which has the same hormones as the pill but in a much lower, localised dose. the hives came back in just a few days so i stopped using the ring. what about condoms, you say? well, i've never been comfortable enough just using condoms, or any barrier methods for that matter, when not used in combination with something hormonal. i don't trust them, and frankly, i don't really care for them either.
so, i've been talking with my doctor, and she thinks that my best option is an hormone-free IUD. it's more effective than anything else i've tried, and it won't have the same side effects that i'm used to. but, you have to go through a painful insertion and a few months of uncomfortableness. it can also make you infertile, which at this point i would welcome, so i can stop worrying about birth control.
anyway, i find this all very unfair. why is it that men have two options: wear a condom or get a vasectomy. obviously, not many men this age would consider the latter. it's kind of an unfair solution to the birth control problem for someone under the age of, say, thirty or even forty. so, they can wear a condom. no harm, no foul, they wear a condom, they're happy. they don't have to worry about all of the ridiculous side effects of birth control pills, patches, shots, implants or rings. not to mention, they don't have to pay for the prescription, either. they don't even have the option to worry about these things. i just find it all very puzzling that if scientists are smart enough to figure out hormonal and long-term birth control methods for women, why can't they do the same for men?
this is where the strike comes in. i think that (men) scientists are deliberately not trying to find a birth control method for men because they know it can be a tedious task finding the right kind for a specific person. they probably also don't want to deal with remembering to take something everyday, or pay for a prescription out of pocket. so, this is why i think that women need to refuse to have sex with men until someone figures this out. otherwise, they will never attempt it.