Women are taught to always hide who they are. Close your legs. Wear shorts under skirts. Don’t tell people you’re on your period—if you do, you should act extremely embarrassed. Be embarrassed when buying pads and tampons. Hide your natural hair. Cover up your acne. Hide the fact that you burp and fart. For goodness sake, be a lady.
If a man enjoys sex, he’s just being a guy. If a woman enjoys sex, she’s a slut. If a man is seen carrying a condom, it’s fine because, you know, he’s protecting himself. If a woman takes birth control she obviously gets around.
I started taking birth control right after my 19th birthday and I’ve been on it now for about four months. When I picked up my first pack from the pharmacy, my mom told me to never tell my dad or anyone in my family that I was taking it. I thought it was a bit strange but I brushed it off. Until I mentioned it to a few of my girl friends. I realized why it was strange when I got weird reactions from them.
There’s a certain stigma with birth control. When I first mentioned it to one of friends, her face contorted into some strange, twisted expression. It was as if within the few seconds it took me to say “Yeah, I started birth control this week,” her view of me completely changed. I wondered if other people felt the same about women on birth control in general. Are we all viewed as sluts because we’re taking the initiative to protect ourselves from becoming pregnant?
The funny thing is, that’s another assumption entirely—women only take birth control to prevent pregnancy.
I was recommended by my dermatologist to begin taking birth control. Before starting the pill, I would get about 4-5 breakouts a week. Now, it’s rare for me to even breakout once a month. I also have an extreme case of anemia (I don’t have much iron in my blood) so my doctor prescribed me a pill that has more iron than other pills. Now, instead of feeling weak and sick all the time, my immune system is improving.
On top of preventing pregnancy and acne, birth control offers certain health benefits. It decreases a woman’s chance of developing cysts (or decreasing the severity if you already have them); it fights against infections in the uterus, tubes, and ovaries, it protects against ectopic pregnancy and it decreases chances of developing certain types of ovarian cancers.
The next time you find out a girl you know is on birth control, instead of slut-shaming her remember that each woman takes birth control for a different reason.
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