Contraception is something most people use in their lifetime. Whether that’s to prevent unwanted pregnancies or for personal reasons. However, the responsibility is normally put upon women. Writer Jess Bourne talks about the female burden of contraceptives
Contraception is always a talking point. Should you use it, should you not? What is the best form? Should you use two forms to prevent unwanted pregnancies? And the golden question… whose responsibility is it?
Over time, I think it’s become a societal norm for women to take charge and prevent pregnancies. But the reason behind the thinking comes from the lack of other options.
Just look at the differences between men and women’s contraception.
Do you know how many forms of contraception there are for women? There’s 11, with seven of those including hormones, which are known to affect women’s bodies in a range of different ways.
Do you know how many there are for men? Two – condoms and a vasectomy.
Men have the ability to impregnate hundreds of women a year, but women can only fall pregnant once every nine months. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I think we’re focusing on the wrong gender here.
Now, many are thankful for hormonal contraceptives. They have a bad reputation, as they should for what they put women through, but they work, and are free, but at what cost to those that take them?
The combined pill, which contains progestogen and oestrogen, can cause high blood pressure, headaches, sickness and dizziness. Oh, and blood clots as well as an increased risk of getting cancer.
While the progestogen-only pill (mini pill) can cause acne, weight gain, ovarian cysts and breast cancer.
I’m not too sure which is the lesser of two evils.
You also have the copper coil, the hormonal coil, the contraceptive implant, contraceptive injection, contraceptive patch, vaginal ring, internal condoms, female sterilisation and the diaphragm. All of these contraceptives for women are invasive in some way and affect women’s bodies every month.
And men have two. One medical procedure and one protective method. That is it. Not a hormone in sight.
Let’s look at the facts. A BPAS report found that 49 per cent of women in the UK face barriers when it comes to contraception. Women face long wait times, difficulty securing appointments and financial hurdles. But do you know what isn’t hard to get or you don’t have to book an appointment for? Going to the shops to buy condoms, and even better, you can get them for free, if necessary.
There were discussions and talk about the introduction of the male pill, but it was scrapped as it wasn’t deemed safe and effective. You might be wondering why it wasn’t safe. Well, it had side effects, and they were just what women experience from female contraceptives. God forbid men feel sick or experience headaches.
I’m in no way saying that this is men’s fault. Of course it isn’t. They didn’t ask for a lack of options. I’m sure there are men all over the world that want to do more to take the burden from women, but once again, women are being failed by those making the medical decisions.
Despite the introduction of the female contraception being seen as giving women the right to do what they want with their bodies; it seems like it has gone a little too far. It seems like pharmaceutical companies have gone too far with developing new medication for women and have forgotten about men.
