The
History of Birth Control and its impact on American Culture
By:
Jordan Devan
Have you ever really
wondered where birth control came from and why it started? Birth control goes
all the way back to 1550 B.C. when an Egyptian manuscript called the Ebers
Papyrus to direct women on how to mix dates. Basically they mixed acacia and
honey into a paste, smeared it all over wool and used it as a pessary to
prevent conception. Later on in the
1700s, Casanova experimented with birth control and makes sheep-bladder condoms
to the use of half a lemon as a makeshift cervical cup. Throughout the 1800’s
rubber condoms were invented as well as a large cervical cap was
developed. Also, congressed passed an
antiobscenity law that deems birth control information obscene and outlaws its
dissemination. Birth control continued
to grow throughout the 1900s including important changes such as the creation
of a progesterone pill which grows into the first human pill trial on 50 women
in Massachusetts.[1]
In 1960, the FDA approved the birth control pill, Enovid, which was actually
taken by many women by that time for “therapeutic purposes”. In the late 1900s, the pill begins to be used
widely across America while concerns come up about the pills safety and side
effects. A new study was developed in
2010 stating that the pill is used by 100 million women around the world. I briefly explained the history above noting
that birth control has made it all the way to court and made it out. As you can see, the pill has come a long way
over time knowing that there are multiple forms of birth control out there
today.
Birth control has not
only had an impact on American culture but also changed many women’s lives. According
to USA Today, "it has become a symbol of women’s rights and generational change –
and, for a time, the focus of a debate over whether it led to declining morals." [2] Today,
people who use the pill can’t remember when it wasn’t available. People question whether the pill promotes
promiscuity because of the high convenience of the pill to women and in some
cases it definitely does. A girl who
once wasn’t so promiscuous that wasn’t on the pill and had no security now is
since she has the pill. There are also
many benefits to the pill. Teenage girls
with difficult periods can use this pill to minimize pain and also thin the
bleeding. Married couples or couples not
wanting to conceive can rely on the pill while staying sexually active. One might ask, why not just use condoms?
Well, along with risk in both, condoms may break, slide off, or a partner may
have allergic reasons why they can’t use one.
That’s where the pill comes in and is effective and safe with fewer risks.
I
believe that the pill is beneficial to women but I also know that women rely on
it too much sometimes. Anything that is
used too much can be dangerous and I know that birth control definitely has its
risks but I think women continue to take those risks having the mindset that it
won’t harm them. The pill along with
other forms of birth control has impacted the American culture by allowing them
to control when they conceive and also has a flip side effect. It’s much easier to say yes to sex when on
birth control knowing you are safe and won’t get pregnant. That’s when I think it is taken too far. The American culture has started to use it
for the wrong reason or in other words, taken advantage of this recourse.
[1] "A Brief History of Birth
Control." Time. Time Inc., 3 May 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
<http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article
[2] The pill: 50 years of birth
control changed women's lives - USATODAY.com." The pill: 50 years of birth
control changed women's lives - USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
<http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-05-07-1Apill07_CV_N.htm>.
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