On This Day in History: May 9
The birth control pill
I didn’t become a parent until I was 30. Thank you, birth control pill and the women willing to take it, for giving me the freedom to fuck around—both literally and figuratively—in my teens and twenties without having to be elbow deep in diarrhea until I was financially and psychologically prepared for it.
--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: May 9, 1960--
Prior to the FDA approving oral contraceptives on May 9, 1960, women didn’t have a lot of great options for controlling their own reproduction. If they wanted to fuck, it was mostly about setting up some kind of barricade and saying to the incoming ejaculate, “You shall not pass!” Problem is, there are a couple hundred million swimmers in each load, so like the storming of Helm’s Deep, some of those fuckers might get through.
Prior to the 1960s, the most popular method of preventing pregnancy was the condom. But that’s mostly controlled by the dude, and we know how men can be about that with their “Oh I’m too big for condoms” bullshit. The Pill gave women the control to separate sex from procreation.
As the 60s progressed, this radical idea that single women were allowed to enjoy sex began to take hold. Feminism asserted that women had needs and should have the same sexual freedoms as men. Conservatives didn’t like that, and many blamed the Pill. They figured that the fear and “shame” of having a child outside of marriage was enough to prevent single women from having sex, or married women from having affairs. The Pill, they thought, created a massive spreading of legs and oh god won’t someone think of the unconceived children?
Can you conceive of clicking the button?
It was a double standard. Single men were allowed to blast semen all over creation, but women weren’t allowed to say yeah, I want some of that. The Pill was seen as sexual anarchy, the downfall of society, and as dangerous as the nuclear bomb. While the Pill is neither a perfect preventative nor perfectly safe, it’s generally considered safer than pregnancy and birth.
Studies have shown that prior to the Pill, plenty of single women were having sex, but just using less-effective methods of birth control. The Pill helped make this reality more public so that existing sexual mores could be more openly discussed and continue to evolve.
Get the book On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.
It was, and still is, all about conservative men controlling women. They lost a great deal of control with the release of birth control pills. They're still trying to regain that lost power.
Fuck, yeah. Literally and figuratively.