"If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."
- Roald Dahl (via coyotegold)
(Source: larmoyante, via loseyoursel-f)
Why I Reject Contraception (Part One)
The degree to which I rate this woman is ever expanding.
Before I begin, I should mention that I personally consent to the use of two forms of contraception: condoms and natural family planning.
“I’m against most forms of contraception” is perhaps a weird thing to say in this day and age. Fundamentally, contraception has revolutionised sex, relationships, and contributed towards the emancipation of women. Taken on face value, these three things are fantastic. So, then, what do I mean by “against”? Part one will cover a third of my argument. Essentially, I believe that hormonal contraception has:
- Inspired complacency towards sexual health and inspired a sterile, unemotional understanding of sexual activity
Part One
At school, they spent hours inspiring a fear of STDs and babies in our young, pubescent minds. They babbled about the morning-after pill, abortions, adoption, AIDS, and safe sex. They taught us how to put condoms on Smurf penises (blue, plastic penises, considered “politically correct”) when we were fourteen and fifteen. Teenage girls were encouraged by school nurses to take the pill or the “jab” if we were sexually active, especially if we were under sixteen. They herded us off to the Family Planning clinic and sent us home with an army of raging artificial hormones pulsing through our bodies and a doggy bag of state-sponsored condoms.
The state has been footing the bill for of my sexual life since my cherry popped. In my entire sexual history I have never paid for a condom, hormonal contraception or a health-check. This, in many respects, is an outstanding achievement on behalf of the state (and probably bad for Durex). The British government sought to protect young women from unwanted pregnancies and encourage regular trips for the clinic. They ushered us into gynecologist offices for free and aimed to inform us of protecting ourselves from unwanted pregnancy.
