Sunday was the 50
th year anniversary of the birth control pill. I had no idea until I heard it on the news. It was briefly discussed on CNN airport addition. The news anchor asked people to call in to give their opinion on whether not the pill revolutionized sex and is it still relevant in an era of high concerns about STDs.
CNN reported that despite the pill, about 50% of pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned and about half of those are ended by abortions.
I was a little dismayed by the questions, did the pill revolutionize sex and is it still relevant today? It seems to me that it would have been more appropriate to have a short segment on how the pill changed relations between men and women including sexually and educate us on how the pill affects us today. Leaving the question open for debate without an informed perspective allows for unchecked silly uninformed comments and opinions. So here is mine.
It seems obvious that the pill allowed for a new level of freedom for women and continuous to be a powerful tool. A woman who uses the pill does not have to rely on the man to use condoms and can decide if she is ready to have sex for procreation or pleasure, a choice men have always had by default. Many men have impregnated women and then gone on to continue their lives as if nothing has changed. A woman who becomes pregnant and goes on to have the child is taking on the toughest life changing responsibility a person can face. Before the pill a married woman almost had no choice but to live the barefoot and pregnant life in the kitchen or simply not have sex. Now she can decide for herself if and when that life is right for her. Certainly the pill created a platform for women to transform their lives at home and created opportunity to change how women related to the workplace.
The birth control pill really helped level the playing field for women. At the end of the day this is a sad thing because the field should be even based on valuing women. All societies should value women for who they are as individuals and what women mean to the world in a collective sense as life bearers and givers. It is believed by many that women were once seen as the center of society. The first God was a Goddess. Today even in the most advanced and so called civilized societies, women continue to be devalued and under rampant physical attack. The pill has been and continues to be an important defensive tool for women in their struggle to control their lives. Let us hope one day it will simply be a tool for planning in a world where women do not need to defend themselves from us men.
