Thread: Women + Birth Control - Men = ?????!!!!!!!

So many points. I agree with them all. You know what it all boils down to? Of course this is my opinion, but it's all about control. We live in a predominately patriarchal society. Men have more power in government,have higher wages, typically have better jobs and, overpower women in nearly everything in all our walks of life. (Hear of the glass ceiling everyone?) It was not always this way. In fact in early hunter-gather societies, women were the most powerful because they provided the sustainable and essential fruits and nuts, knew all about herbal lore and all that sort of thing. Men feared women's growing power and through this they wished for more power and obtained it. (The Witch Burnings anyone? Totally a holocaust of women in my mind.) Though that is neither here nor there.

Women are also taught to be subservient and 'soft spoken', culturally speaking across the board in this modern age. It's the curse of the good girl. Sure, it's gotten a bit better, but we are still a far way off. Now you think that modern science would come up with something that would help men, whom have less delicate hormonal cycles? Well let's see, most of the scientists with the power are men.It doesn't effect them, for it's 'women who have the responsibility of birth' even though it takes two to tango!

There was a joke going around the internet that said something like, "if men got their periods, it would be like men around a water cooler at work: "I got mine then. How heavy was yours? Etc". It would be like the 'cool' thing. I just have a feeling if they knew what we went through, as women, every month there would be tons of medicines out there and stuff a lot safer.

Birth control methods have been around for a long time, women have had these tools before modern medicines made hormonal pills to take (such as the herb Black Cohosh) Men are typically clueless what women go through every month. We can tell them, but since they don't experience it themselves it's hard to truly convey how we feel.

In some cultures women have to hide to a separate room or house when they have their periods because it's considered 'unclean.' Conversely, in one African culture women were free of curses because they were the givers of life. Incidently in Tantric Buddhism, women also have more power than men though Tantra was devised as a way to step away from conventional Mahayana Buddhism at the time of it's inception.

With all these examples, I feel that the clear thing in my mind is all about control of women's bodies. Now I'm not arguing that birth control is bad, I'm glad that someone is taking care of preventing unwanted children.I wouldn't trust another person to take a pill every day, I feel more confident that I'm taking my own pill. It would be awesome though for a male equivalent so that if one method fails there is another backup. (More than just a condom since many men don't like them) Will it happen despite all this supposed research in the field? I doubt it for at least another 10-15 years. It just figures that such important tasks fall to women, who have been silently enduring the burden of crazy cycles and other such issues in the name of science. It's about control, sad but so true in my mind.

Sorry this is so long, I sort of rambled.