Women’s health is fraught with gaslighting.
The latest evidence of this is the Washington Post article published on March 21, 2024, titled “Women Are Getting Off Birth Control Amid Misinformation Explosion.”
The article talks about an explosion of misinformation around birth control pills that is causing women to find alternatives to pills and intrauterine devices (IUDs).
There has been an explosion of information surrounding the side effects of birth control, but quite frankly, it’s about time.
Is it misinformation? No.
Women have never been given all the facts on birth control. It does change who you are attracted to, it does negatively impact your mental health, it can cause life threatening blood clots, and it can make getting pregnant more difficult.
The only misinformation being spread is by the Washington Post, doing what medicine has been doing for decades; minimizing the seriousness of side effects and dismissing women’s experience.
This is gaslighting all over again.
Women have never had truly informed consent when it comes to birth control and that is finally changing. Women are making different decisions based on more complete information.
That’s a good thing!
As women, we need to stop accepting that we are crazy when we experience side effects from a medication.
We need to stop going to doctors who don’t listen and simply dismiss us with an antidepressant as if that will solve all our problems.
Our experience is real, it is valid, and we deserve to be heard and taken seriously.
The Post article uses tactics to divide us as women, as if being a liberal or a conservative plays a role in side effects and the experience of women on birth control.
The article also downplays the benefits of tracking your cycle and knowing your body. We do lose ourselves on birth control because a normal function is being discarded as an inconvenience.
If we look at women’s health in the past 100 years, we really haven’t seen any improvement in our well-being. We have seen a rise in breast cancer, autoimmune disease, infertility, depression and anxiety, and even early menopause.
Could it be that we need normal periods? I believe this is something we need to have honest conversations around.
It’s time we take back control of our body and embrace the way we were designed to function. Women are powerful beings. We have the ability to bring life into the world along with nurturing.
If the world needs anything, it needs more life and nurturing. That starts with honest conversations and informed consent.