Monthly Archives: February 2012

Birth Control Pills: Then and Now

Posted on by
Reply

First Birth Control PillsCheck out this image of the first birth control pill. Strange, huh? Aside from the difference in dosage (5 mg – goodness!), what really blew my mind was the packaging. It never occurred to me before that the pill is one of the only medications I know of that comes packaged with careful such consideration to memory. In case you aren’t a pill user, the pills we use now generally look like this:

Helpfully labeled by date so we can remember if we took them or not.

According to this article on BC packaging at SocImages, back then “[w]omen were supposed to take 20 pills in a row, then none during their period. It was up to them to keep track of everything and remember when it was time to start taking the pills again.” Frankly, even with the carefully labeled packaging we use now, many women have a hard time remembering to take the pill on time (no judgment here, ladies, I’m a terrible pill taker myself. Nuva Ring for the win!)  I imagine there were many problems with taking it correctly, because it wasn’t long before an engineer created a pack that held exactly one month of pills, so that you knew when it was time to stop and have your period (Did you know that you don’t have to have a period on the pill? We’ll talk more about that another time). It came with a watch that had a calendar for your husband … I don’t know, it was the ‘60s. Finally, in 1965, we got day labels and placebo pills so we knew when to start a new pack.

Though it seems we’ve got the scheduling thing as nailed down as possible, birth control pill packs have still gotten more elaborate over the years (Alarms! Flowers!) Most of the fancy designs you can buy now seemed to be aimed at concealing the fact that you are carrying around birth control (sooo many make-up compact dupes!) or just looking as girly as possible – not bad things, of course, just interesting. The pill isn’t just another medication to many people – it’s a private matter you don’t want someone catching a glimpse of in your purse, or maybe something to dress up and celebrate.

If you want, you can see more cool images of old-school pill packaging here at PBS. And just for kicks, check out this timeline of contraceptive history at PBS.

Why Should Men Care About Women’s Rights?

Posted on by
Reply

At many Planned Parenthoods, there are VOX chapters at nearby colleges and universities. VOX (Latin for voice) is a pro-choice voice in the community that seeks to educate, advocate, and make sure college students know that Planned Parenthood is there for them. Many don’t have health insurance and/or can’t get care on campus. One of the challenges that some VOX chapters have is getting men interested in joining. The men say things like, “that’s a group for women,” or “what’s a man to do about women’s rights?” Well, this got me thinking about how the general public feels about why men should care about and advocate for women’s rights. I posed this very question to my personal Facebook page and got answers like:

“What if it were their daughter that was being denied something?”
“Women’s rights + men’s rights = human rights. The equation doesn’t work without both!”
“Why do women always need to prove why they matter, why their needs and concerns matter, and why they matter as humans?”
“Who wants to have sex with a meek, un-empowered woman? Sounds awfully boring.”
And those responses were just from the women!

The men’s answers were short, but sweet:
“Because I refuse to be complicit to oppression.”
“Because it’s the right thing to do. Simple as that.”
“Because everyone has a mother.”

Why do you think men should care and be involved in advocating for women’s rights? Pose this question to your Facebook page and tell us about the most interesting responses.

Breastfeeding in the Workplace

Posted on by
Reply

Good morning! Today on The Feronia Project, we’re featuring a guest post from Kevin Sanderson, an employment attorney, talking about discrimination against breastfeeding in the workplace – and the efforts that the federal government is making to make it stop.

There has been an angry reaction to news of a recent U.S. southern Texas federal judge’s decision to dismiss a discrimination case brought by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission A mother balancing baby bottle and briefcase.(EEOC) on behalf of Donnicia Venters, who was not allowed to return to her job after giving birth, after she asked her employer about accommodations for breastfeeding in the workplace.

Ms. Venters left work December 1, 2009.  She gave birth on the 10th.  She suffered an infection from her caesarian birth that delayed her return to work and was not cleared until February 16 to return to work by her doctor. She told her employer that day she wanted to come back. She was fired February 10. The letter informing her of the termination was not sent until February 20.  The judge did note that Ms. Venters spoke with co-workers for a total of 115 minutes during a 30 day period while she was recovering from complication, She had not yet been cleared by her doctor to return to work but consistently told co-workers she wanted to and would return to work.

Pregnancy discrimination is rampant. So is family responsibility discrimination, which is what I believe this ultimately was.  This can happen to anyone: a spouse, parent, child, etc. who needs to care for an immediate loved one but also needs to be able to stay employed over the long term.  I think the “mistake” this 6 year employee made was informing her employer she was going to continue to be a “problem” after already taking medical leave for the pregnancy. (This is worth highlighting as any complication before or after a pregnancy or any other health related issue can easily cause a person to miss more than the twelve weeks a company may be mandated to hold the job open for the employee.)

The EEOC should be applauded for filing this case in the first place.  It appears they were trying to use this as a test case to establish precedence for the right to breastfeed in the workplace and the results backfired.  EEOC attempts to do good work with what resources they have, but they are notoriously and intentionally underfunded.  (Remember, this is the agency Ronald Regan appointed Clarence Thomas to prior to his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court by George H.W. Bush – and it’s also where he worked with Anita Hill.)

Many people probably don’t realize the EEOC brings very few court cases compared to the large number of charges of discrimination they receive from employees every year.  They use their limited resources to go after the largest employers (such as Walmart) and rarely take cases on behalf of only one employee.  They must have felt this case was important enough to do so.

There is reason to believe that the EEOC wanted to highlight this topic. They recently held a public hearing with a panel of experts in D.C. on Unlawful Discrimination Against Pregnant Workers and Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities. The EEOC stated in its related press release that “Despite Laws, Guidance and Willingness to Work, Many Pregnant Women and Caregivers are Denied Job Opportunities, Workplace Modifications, Leave, and Equal Treatment.”

Kevin Sanderson is an employment attorney representing employees alleging discrimination in the workplace. He can be reached at (941) 244-0468 or at http://www.srqattorney.com.

Plan B: All About Emergency Contraception

Posted on by
Reply

Plan B: Emergency ContraceptionOops! So Plan A was:

  • No sex for me tonight.
  • We’ll be OK if we just use a condom.
  • I’ll always remember to take my pill on time.
  • I can handle one more drink and still be in control.
  • I’ll just leave my drink on the bar while I go talk to my friend.
  • He’ll stop if I tell him to.

Plan A didn’t work out so well.

  • Sex “just happened.”
  • The condom broke.
  • I forgot to take my pill…..again.
  • I got drunk.
  • You were drugged.
  • You were date raped.

It used to be when unprotected sex happened all you could do was wait, hope, or pray for your period to make an appearance. Now you have Plan B, otherwise know as “the morning after pill” or “emergency contraception.”

Plan B stops pregnancy 89% of the time if taken within 3 days (72 hours) of unprotected sex. It can be taken up to 5 days (120 hours) because sperm can live that long in your body, but works best when taken as soon as possible.

It works by preventing an egg from being released from an ovary and thickens the mucus in the cervix making it harder for sperm to make its way to the egg. There is no evidence that Plan B stops a fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus or causes an abortion by causing an attached fertilized egg to detach.

Plan B is made from a high dose of progestin, one of the main ingredients in birth control pills. Side effects? One out of 4 females feels nausea for a day or so. However, it is emergency contraception – for women who would have become pregnant, it reduces pregnancy by 89%. It’s also more effective the sooner it’s taken.

Plan B offers no protection against Sexually Transmitted Infections. You may want to be tested for them also.

If you are male or female 17 years old or older, you can buy Plan B without a prescription. (Yes, men can buy it too!) If you are a female under 17, you will need a prescription, but not the consent of a parent. (However, we here at the Feronia Project believe that there should be no age limit to buying emergency contraception.)

You can find Plan B at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, health clinics or a pharmacy. Prices vary, so check things out before you buy.

It’s nice to know you have a Plan B when Plan A hasn’t worked out so well!

Edit: Some updates to effectiveness statistics.

Dear Mr. Senator,

Posted on by
Reply

My body is not your political football.

Sincerely,

Mary

I’ve been to the state capitol three times to advocate for women’s rights. I’ve advocated for standards for sex education in the schools, for hospitals to offer Emergency Contraception to rape victims, and against ridiculous and unnecessary abortion restrictions, for which there is no medical justification (like a 24 hour waiting period).

It is a very powerful experience to ride on a bus with like-minded people who are so passionate, that their energy courses through your own veins. All that energy despite the disbelief that we are still trying to prove to law makers that women actually matter.

It is also quite an experience to shake the hands of a Senator who really doesn’t give a hoot about your cause. It makes you want to cry when you go observe what is happening on the “floor.” You have a legislator talking about their bill and only a few of his/her colleagues actually listening. The rest are talking to each other, their aides, on the computer, or on their cell phone. Then they take a vote! How can you vote on something that you barely know anything about? And that’s where we come in. If we take the time to call or visit our legislators, we can educate them on the issue and tell them which way we’d like them to vote. Even the legislators who support us often don’t know what’s in a bill because they might not be in the committees that get to hear it first. They might not hear about it until its time to vote on it. As one Representative’s aide put it, many votes turn into “values” votes because the House is too “intellectually deprived” to make decisions based on science, medicine, and research.

I lobby because I want legislators to hear from real people, not just hired guns who work for some lobbying group with deep pockets. They need to hear that women’s rights are human rights and that her health affects that of her family. I lobby because I believe that education + access to birth control = power. I participate in the process because I can. A democracy depends on the people telling their elected officials how they feel.

Remember, real change happens at the policy level. Have you ever lobbied for an issue that’s important to you?

My Uterus, Their Unwilling Conveyor Belt: The (Not) New War on Women

Posted on by
6

Does anybody remember from U.S. History class the Comstock Laws that Congress passed in 1873, which outlawed importing, mailing, or even disseminating information about contraception? Of course, using contraception was out, and even talking about effective birth control methods was considered “obscene.” Where were the women on the issue? Oh wait, I remember, that was before women had the right to vote. Do you realize that women haven’t even been voting for 100 years? The Titanic sunk before we could mark a ballot. Do you realize what a short time it’s been?

Women’s ability to control their fertility has been met with historical barriers, as men in America held patriarchal power, legitimized by religious doctrine used to justify inequality. In truth, women’s history has been essentially wiped from the books, because as they say, “the winner writes the history.”

Rep. Darrell Issa's Women-less Congressional Panel on Birth ControlSo, when I came across the photo of the Republicans’ “witness birth control panel” I was totally taken aback. Where the hell are the women? Are our voices somehow irrelevant?

They say we can look to the past to predict the future. If this is the case, I assert that women’s “stronghold” in exercising their power and autonomy is only a blip in our timeline that can be easily wiped away by legislation riddled with “traditional” values. The FDA only approved the first birth control pill in 1957, around the time my grandmother was getting married. There are women around us who remember what it was like before we had the reproductive freedoms we do now. Just last week, in 2012, Rep. Issa’s hearing on birth control was like a childhood boy’s club: no girls allowed! They’ve oppressed us before, they’re trying to do it again.

Ninety-six years after Margaret Sanger was arrested for opening the nation’s first contraceptive clinic, I have an IUD that allows me to enjoy intimacy and intercourse without pregnancy and I think it scares the hell out of those old patriarchal cronies. Think about it – they’re losing their power to control women. Historically, when women were unable to control their fertility, they were burdened to an existence of constant pregnancy and child-rearing. While I’m in no way blanketing all pregnancies to be burdensome, I’m really terrified of the notion that my uterus could one day become an unwilling conveyor belt.

If I’m left without contraception, how can I plan my pregnancies? If I can’t plan my pregnancies, how can I plan my life? If I can’t plan my life, how can I own my life? If I don’t own my life, who does? Riddle me that one, Newt, Rick, Mitt.

But my speculation is that these anti-women’s health extremists realize exactly what they’re doing. We are in a war over power and autonomy, and of women’s roles and value within our society (i.e., get back in the kitchen, have some babies and listen to/serve your husband).

Yeah, I’m not going to stand for that.

Our “traditional” patriarchal model shames the pleasure of sex, especially women’s pleasure: male has intercourse = pleasure/sport/assertion of masculine dominance/orgasm (for example, Catholic bishops and insurance companies cover Viagra). Female has intercourse = slut/shame/pregnancy and the “natural” role of motherhood (for example, Catholic bishops reject contraception and insurance companies don’t cover contraception). Not exactly equal outcomes.

So, I’m a sex-positive individual. I love having sex, and I have the luxury of thinking about it independently from pregnancy or motherhood because I use an effective birth control method. Because I’ve been using contraception consistently since I became sexuallyFeminist Fist active, I’ve been able to have an infinite amount of pleasurable intercourse AND obtain a formal education AND travel the world AND have a career AND my freedom! I’ve been able to live the life that many men on the “Birth Control Witness Panel” would be proud of their sons for. But since I have a uterus, I must give up my freedoms to serve my one and only purpose in life: being a caretaker to my husband and children?

Grrls and bois, friends and foes, they’re calling it a “war on religion,” and I’m calling it a “war on women.”  As history repeats itself, we must remain vigilant in this fight.

Hooking Up: Why Does Society Fear It So Much?

Posted on by
Reply

Hooking UpWe as a nation are prone to moral panics where one social group—perhaps a more religious, conservative one—decries a social trend that threatens a traditional aspect of our society. If something is considered a threat to a conventional social order, especially a relationship model where monogamy and celibacy prior to marriage is the norm, we are often treated to multiple news stories and editorials and petitions expressing outrage. Most of the more recent issues that inspire such fear and ire are related to women’s sexuality—birth control access, abortion access, whether it’s appropriate for Komen to fund breast exams at Planned Parenthood, and “hook up culture.”

The issue of hook up culture is not a new one, but it’s still an ongoing source of contention and fear, especially among older adults who look at new types of relationships emerging on college campuses and feel afraid for what these changes mean.

What’s referred to as hook up culture is a cultural standard among young adults where sexual activity usually occurs outside the context of a relationship, often without the promise of a relationship occurring afterwards, and the absence of traditional dates. This is opposed to an older model in which a boy called a girl days in advance, a date was planned, he picked her up and met her parents, brought her home by 10, etc. While premarital sex or sexual activity outside of a relationship are new things, it does seem true that they are becoming more accepted.

Most of the fear surrounding so called hook up culture is based upon an evolutionary model of male and female sex differences that insist women are designed to become attached to a partner after sex and thus cannot really enjoy casual sex. The other side of the argument states that this model is outdated and both men and women are capable of enjoying casual sex or desiring monogamy, depending on the individual and the situation.

Sociologist Paula England has studied hook up culture extensively, and gave a lecture on the subject discussing her findings. (It’s a quick and really interesting 6-minute video.) In her research, she has discovered that in many areas, traditional pre-arranged one-on-one dating practically doesn’t exist, but that most sexual partners are found while socializing in groups of friends.  Hooking up does not necessarily mean sexual intercourse, but may mean anything from making out to intercourse. Most hookups do not lead to relationships, but most relationships she studied did start out with hooking up.  It took a “define the relationship talk” to transition between a repeated hook-up situation into a relationship situation.

Now, what interests me is not just the anatomy of hook up culture, but how does it actually affect women?  According to England, the double standard of the slut vs. stud dichotomy has not gone anywhere, sadly; women were more likely to experience slurs and judgment due to their sexual behavior.  Also, more men have orgasms than women in these hookups.  However, in repeat hookups or ones that turned into relationships, the gap in orgasm rate between men and women diminished over time.  More men than women initiated sexual contact but that does not mean the women did not want it; it may be a reflection of traditional sex roles where men are supposed to be the aggressor. England concludes that it is unclear whether a hook up culture is better or worse for women than the more traditional courtship rituals.

What seems clear to me is that our society still has much to work on when it comes to sexual equality. Even though the types of relationships, and the way they transition into relationships has changed for young adults, not enough has changed. It is not important whether young adults find sexual relationships through dating or through hooking up; I’m more concerned with a shift from a society that upholds sexist priorities to one that insists on mutual consent, sexual pleasure, and emotional honesty.

Fun Friday: Guide to Getting It On Giveaway!

Posted on by
18

Guide to Getting It OnHappy Friday! We hope you have a fantastic weekend.

To end our love and sex week here on Feronia, we’re going to hold a fantastic giveaway. Ever heard of The Guide to Getting It On? Well, it is awesome. 600 pages of sex tips just for you.

Here’s some reviews:

  • “Funny, hip, and informative, it’s packed with advice about what to put where and covers every topic a couple could possibly be curious about.” -Women’s Health Magazine
  • “The only sex manual you’ll ever need!” – Rolling Stone

We’re giving away two copies – leave a comment by midnight on Sunday, February 19 on this entry to win!

(The books are supplied by Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida. Two winners will be drawn via random.org.)