The Revolt Against Birth Control

[Grendelpuppy]

I found this article:

https://archive.fo/2023.03.20-16334....com/book-and-art/women-stop-taking-pill-sex/

It is interesting in that my stories offend so many people because the women are not practicing "safety sex.". This article explains why my fascination with the idea is not unique.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The essay opens with misinformation:

Chemicals really are going into the water that so disrupt the endocrine systems of small aquatic creatures, including frogs, that males sometimes undergo sex reversal or adopt homosexual behavior. It’s just that the synthetic estradiol that damages fish and amphibians isn’t being added to the water as a sinister government conspiracy.

The truth is more banal: traces of estradiol are peed into the sewage system by every woman who uses hormonal birth control, and this compound is difficult to remove in sewage treatment. So if you’re on the pill, it’s not the government messing with frogs’ sexual behavior. It’s you.

The catastrophic ecological impact of hormonal birth control is one of the many cognitive dissonances in liberal feminism, a movement that generally prides itself — at least superficially — on alignment with progressive causes including concern for the environment. But the lure of consequence-free sex is so powerful that no matter how often the ecological destructiveness of the pill is reported, this fact somehow never seems to register in the popular consciousness.

In fact, birth control pills account for less than 1 percent of estrogens in the USA's drinking water. Most of it is due to soy, dairy, and livestock waste.

Increasingly, such women are blaming hormonal birth control for a slew of side effects...

On the face of it, the complaints are about biological side effects. But we can also read, beneath this, a broader statement: the pill is making me miserable. And this is a far broader critique. For in de-risking sex, this technology has made it ubiquitous, and in the process stripped desire of anticipation, excitement and mystery: emptied it of eroticism.

In other words: their actual complaints have nothing to do with the thesis of her essay, but she's going to imagine some completely different complaint not supported by the evidence.

Honestly, the whole piece feels like an unnecessarily long-winded way to say "I find pregnancy risk sexy so I assume other women must do too".

 

[onehitwanda]

For in de-risking sex, this technology has made it ubiquitous, and in the process stripped desire of anticipation, excitement and mystery: emptied it of eroticism.

What sad and unapologetic toshy nonsense. I feel sorry for her.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I found this article:

https://archive.fo/2023.03.20-16334....com/book-and-art/women-stop-taking-pill-sex/

It is interesting in that my stories offend so many people because the women are not practicing "safety sex.". This article explains why my fascination with the idea is not unique.

I’m an ex-Biologist. There is a technical term for articles like this. Utter and complete ignorant crap. As the Physicists would say, not even wrong.

Anyone with a basic scientific education would rip holes in it, with their eyes closed, their arms tied behind there back, and wearing a ball gag (yes I have direct experience of just that).

Em

—

UPDATE: This thread was posted in The Authors’ Hangout, which is where I responded to it. I have absolutely no desire to discuss politics, least of all on a sex site.

 

[Lovecraft_Lore]

The guy should be wearing a rubber. Then the woman does not need to worry about if she took the pill at the right time, or the guys spunk dripping down her leg all night or estrogen problems, or anything else.

 

[Djmac1031]

.....

 

[tenyari]

I thought we had a politics forum so I would NOT have to see BS like this and all the stupid complaints about 'woke' by some of the fucking idiots in here...

 

[ChloeTzang]

This belongs in the politics board

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Yeah, that article is a load of bollocks, to use the technical term.

But the question of whether to include contraception or not in stories is an interesting one. Some readers relax only once they know contraception and barriers are in place; others dislike the injection of reality into their wank, others have a breeding fetish.

I tend to have explicit condom use especially for anal sex (male or female recipients), but i'm very much a child of the AIDS generation and have to put that risk to bed before enjoying anything that might involve it.

(also ended up down a rabbit hole of reading on estrogens in water, having previously attended conference sessions where they'd concluded contraceptive pills were responsible for increased feminisation of Everglades alligators - I knew US farming permitted growth hormone but had no idea of the other hormones used in feedlots!)

 

[HordHolm]

Sheesh. It reminds me of the 'Trad Housewife' stuff.

As for the actual body of writing... loads of assumptions, precious little evidence: file under 'opinion piece' rather than anything truly academic.

 

[Rustyoznail]

TBH, whether I include contraception or not depends on the story. If I feel it's necessary to state something, it's usually just a passing comment like "I'm fine as you are."

 

[Bramblethorn]

Sheesh. It reminds me of the 'Trad Housewife' stuff.

Funny you should mention that. One of her previous essays is titled "why tradwives aren't trad enough", all about how women who only want to go back to 1950s roles aren't sufficiently anti-feminist.

 

[HordHolm]

Funny you should mention that. One of her previous essays is titled "why tradwives aren't trad enough", all about how women who only want to go back to 1950s roles aren't sufficiently anti-feminist.

Colour me wildly unsurprised...

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Anyone with a basic scientific education would rip holes in it, with their eyes closed, their arms tied behind there back, and wearing a ball gag (yes I have direct experience of just that).

Em

Sorry…what was the question?

 

[XersesRayCyrus]

Reply to post #2: That's not misinformation.

We're also experiencing lower fertility rates. Which is why we have Open Biden Borders: We need unaffected breeders.

 

[JohnnySavage]

Too many people on the planet. BC drugs should be in the public water supply.

 

[XersesRayCyrus]

Too many people on the planet. BC drugs should be in the public water supply.

They are, and hence the problem.

If you want to do a little population decimation: go to war. Right now, China is spoiling for a fight.

 

[JohnnySavage]

That fungus from "The Last of Us" is on the rise.

 

[XersesRayCyrus]

*chuckle*

Someone, not me, in my household is hooked on that insipid show.

 

[JohnnySavage]

I like the dystopian genre. In my never so humble opinion, people generally get exactly what they deserve.

 

[XersesRayCyrus]

I've often said that about the average voter who still doesn't understand the concept of bait and switch.

 

[ll74]

Oh, look who's back. . And under a new nickname..who ever would've seen that happening ¯⁠\⁠(⁠°⁠_⁠o⁠)⁠/⁠¯

 

[EmilyMiller]

Sorry…what was the question?

I used to do a lot of BDSM and still do a bit of milder stuff now.

This is not exactly something I have kept secret .

Em

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I used to do a lot of BDSM and still do a bit of milder stuff now.

This is not exactly something I have kept secret .

Em

Yeah, I had to research that for ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE and it appears in parts 4 and 5 with clamps, butt plugs, collars and chains.

I can’t say I’m into it myself but it was interesting having to actually do research into a branch of sexuality I’ve never explored before.

So…there’s that.

🗜

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yeah, I had to research that for ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE and it appears in parts 4 and 5 with clamps, butt plugs, collars and chains.

I can’t say I’m into it myself but it was interesting having to actually do research into a branch of sexuality I’ve never explored before.

So…there’s that.

🗜

I love my clamps

Em