New Research on Birth Control Pills Reeks of Bad Science

Looking at the details of a study is important. It never ceases to amaze me how many people present the evidence in their writing without taking a loot--I did and now I wish I had taken more time to do the research. That's the key of science, isn't it? Question everything.

Excellently written.

I think that they're may be something to this birth control study.  I mean they do have certain levels of hormones in them.  Who's to say how well they mix with a woman's existing levels of hormones.  If given too much could it possibly cause her to alter her ability to think rationally.  If there are studies that show that women taking birth control have decreased sex drives then why not the same for picking Mr. Right.

Well Ladies I must say I tend to think that birth control in itself has some hidden side effects that your doctor and the pharmaceutical companies don't tell you about.  I have been on birth control off and on for about 11 years now.  I must say though after the birth of each of my children it has become increasingly harder for me to conceive. I'm not even 30 years old yet.  It took me 6 months to conceive my second child.  Please keep in my mind that I had been on birth control for five years prior to conceiving.  Now that I'm trying for my third child we aren't having any success.  We're going on 9 months and still nothing.  Not too mention since we've been trying to get pregnant this third time around my menstrual cycles have become NULL-IN-VOID and darn right CHAOTIC.  We're talking 4 cycles in the last 9 months. Also, up until we decided to try for a third child my cycles had been regulated by the birth control pill.  However, since I've stopped taking them everything is a mess (i.e. cycles and skin). Because of all of this mishap and cycle confusion my husband and I decided that I won't take anymore birth control.

This is a rather silly study.

That said, I do believe in the power of pheromones and our reactions to smells. I wouldn't say that was strong enough to skew us to the "wrong" partner — and "wrong " determined by whom, exactly? — but it probably is a contributing factor, even if a tiny one.

Here I thought my bad taste in men in my 20s (when I was on oral contraception) had to do with my lack of life experience and the absence of the "radar" that comes from having been knocked around by life a bit.  Yet all along it was my contraceptive choice.  Surely Merck and Pfizer must be bracing themselves for an onslaught of lawsuits. I hear "emotional damage" carries quite a price tag in civil court.

Enough snark.  That is a bogus study.  Who funds this stuff?

http://nakedanarchists.wordpress.com ( http://nakedanarchists.wordpress.com/ )

Estrogen makes a female a female and testosterone makes a male a male...

People are way more complicated than that. By that statement, any women with somewhat high levels of testosterone or males with higher levels of estrogen are what? Female males? Male females? Being female or male, who we are attracted to, and how we act, is far more than hormones alone.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://blogher.org/member/suzanne ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

I adore you, too, by the way, and I completely 100% absolutely understand why you would avoid hormonal birth control. Those Pills can have serious impacts on the user's emotions, body, and thinking. The changes are no joke. And I think that's what pisses me off the most about studies of how women react to sweaty shirts. I think it takes away from how hormones can impact a woman by focusing attention on ridiculous "effects."

If I could get away with not using hormonal birth control, I absolutely would. I've got other reasons to take it, though, and have been extremely lucky so far. But I so hear your points.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://blogher.org/member/suzanne ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Suzanne, I adore you (did you know that? well now you do) but on this particular issue, and regardless of this particular study, I have to say that I do believe taking hormones likely has more implications than we realize.

Personally, I am choosing non-hormonal birth control methods. That is NOT to say that the pill is not an important birth control option that must remain available to all women who want to use it.

Vered DeLeeuw

http://momgrind.com/

Actually male birth control is on the way, it will work much like the female pill except it will be testosterone. Hormone therapy will have a leveling effect on society, allow more control over such matters as pregnancy. The research is still going on, woman’s birth control is far advanced its been on the markets now for nearly half a century. As it is now marketed as a regulator of menses and even mood stabilizing and acne control. They have people doing clinical studies at UCLA. Estrogen makes a female a female and testosterone makes a male a male, the use of synthetics tricks the body into not producing eggs or sperm, but the levels can make you more male or more female in typical social manners, women seeking virile men and men seeking buxom females. Relative to where you are before taking the hormones, it’s a gradient you could end up with more than what you normally have. Is this based on bad science? Not really.