Letters to the Editor
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there's apparently some reason to belive that having too many periods is a problem
so this would be restoring the "natural" situation
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Blame it on the Pope
I'm quite prepared to be told that this story is apochryphal, but during my medical school teaching on contraception, we were told that the pill regime was originally formulated to include a monthly hormone-withdrawal bleed in order to make it appear more 'natural', and thus have it declared acceptable by the Catholic church. The church turned it down, of course, but the innate conservatism of medical practice has kept the unnecessary fiction going ever since...
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Really?
This really does sound oddly unnatural. I am by no means a medical professional but doing something drastic like stopping one's period completely...seems like that could cause some sort of hormone build up (for lack of a better way to describe it) that could be potentially cancer causing...am I way off base?
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Does playing mother nature get you in the end?
As a former long-term user of the pill, I would initially applaud this innovation. Convenient birth control AND little to no periods?? Sounds too good to be true.
But then I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 31 with no family history. And while there is not one culprit than we can point a finger at a cause of breast cancer, my doctors don't allow me to use the pill any longer.
Food for thought, ladies, when making your choices.
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Female president?
"92 percent of Americans are ready for a female president -- and that nearly 80 percent felt that a woman would perform as well as or better than a man"
That 8% of people who aren't ready for a woman president can exert a powerful influence on the outcome of an election. Looking at both numbers together implies that perhaps 12% of people would vote for a woman, even though they believed her to be an inferior candidate. People are clearly not rational creatures.
But the ambitious women of America shouldn't feel singled out, there are plenty of capable people who aren't be electable. If you aren't a weathy, tall, white, christian male who belongs to one of two political parties, you are out of luck (at least so far). I recall seeing a poll once where people were asked "would you vote for a : (insert group)". I suppose I shouldn't be suprised, but "atheist" was the least desirable group. So much for my bid for the presidency! And I thought that as a white male I had a shot!
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Which is unnatural: skipped periods or marketing ploys?
The fact that this is 'news' isn't at all related to the practice, because that's nothing new. What's new is the drug companies repackaging the same pills we've always bought, giving them a new name, and then thinking we'll pay more for the privilege. One three-month pack of Seasonale from drugstore.com is $165--I don't pay anywhere near that, and I'm taking Levlen, with the exact same ingredients at the exact same dosage. One year of Seasonale: $660. One year of Levlen, from the same store, taking into account the two extra packets you need to have a period on the same quarterly basis: $476. That's $184, $45 a package, just for a new name.
I imagine these other options will be no better.
Do we really call this progress?
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I'm glad the choice exists, but there may be unexpected hidden costs
I know there are women who tolerate the pill just fine, and need it because of hideously painful periods. On the other hand, I also know so many friends whose sex drives took a nosedive with the pill and never fully recovered even after going off! I don't think the sexual side effects (which can happen even with the ones which say it doesn't happen as much) are explained by gynos very well, or even mentioned in many cases.
I think there are valuable and interesting things that women can experience from a natural cycle, accusations of being overly "romantic" aside. I know I'm not the only woman who experiences more intense and vivid dreams the week before my period, nor the only one to have interesting surges of horniness and intuitive insight at various points. When I was on the pill for a year, all of these things were flattened out, and every day felt the same. Everything was more regular and, frankly, less interesting --- my creative side suffered somewhat as well since I had not realized the extent to which my best work was done around ovulation! If a woman wants to not have periods, then she should have the pharmaceutical option to do it, but it does make me wonder if it is a rejection of femininity on some level. Men have harder to notice cycles of testosterone and sperm production, but on the whole they do not have such dramatic differences day by day because of them.
I would question whether it is worth losing these subtle sensations and experiences just for the convenience or efficiency of it (for those women who don't have painful periods or need BC and just want to avoid menstruating). These are things men can't experience, and women can only experience them for a relatively small portion of their increasingly long lives. Perhaps I only think this way because my mother and female relatives gave me a positive introduction to puberty and helped me connect the dots between fertility and sexuality (and they were not New Age hippies, they were very traditional and old-fashioned about most things). In this society more and more women are choosing elective C-sections so they can avoid experiencing the most unique female event, so perhaps it will become more of a trend to avoid periods as well.
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the female body evolved to produce babies
i.e. get pregnant, nurse, get pregnant, nurse....so a period is an interruption of this natural um, flow of events, which the body may not be particularly well suited to put up with 450 times in a lifetime.
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And thirty years from now...
...when side effects, increased incidence of cancer and heart disease, troubled pregnancies and other unforeseen consequences crop up, I will not be among those who are surprised. No matter how "safe" this kind of god-playing is made out to be, or how "convenient" it looks, it always comes home to kick us in the ass.
So, no. I'd rather put up with treatable symptoms and a little mess a few days a month than have bits of me rot and fall off further down the line because I couldn't be bothered to accept my physiology, thanks.