birth, control, and feminism
As previously noted, my pharmaceutical hormonal contraceptive has lately been giving me trouble. Coincidentally, it was around the time that the side-effects started interfering with my daily routine that I discovered Fertility Awareness. No, this is not the debunked Rhythm Method of the Catholic Church. Fertility Awareness is a method of recognizing and tracking the physiological changes that occur during a lady’s monthly fertility cycle to either prevent or achieve pregnancy.
I blame the patriarchy for the 17 years I lived in ignorance of the nuance and normalcy of my monthly fertility cycle. And I blame the patriarchy for the decade I spent poisoning myself with synthetic hormones as a means of thwarting my fertility cycle rather than working with it to avoid the impoverishment and denial of self that accompany young motherhood.
Awareness by the sex-class of their fertility is a threat to the patriarchy, which is why most women will spend the entirety of their reproductive years ignorant of the cyclical dance performed by their hormones, or the ways they can utilize their physiology to exert reproductive autonomy. That is not to say that fertility awareness is some sort of birth control panacea; I recognize that, particularly in a rape culture, it cannot prevent all unwanted pregnancies.
All I’m saying is that I’m outraged by the fact that fertility awareness is a virtual secret which one must seek out. This vital information should be imparted upon all pubescent girls, and women ought to live their fertile years with the knowledge of precisely how their fertility works. But to do so would grant too much agency to the sex-class, threatening the patriarchy in a way that cannot be tolerated.
Thus, beginning before they are even fertile, women are taught that vaginal secretions are dirty, that they should always be available for sex, that they are completely or mostly responsible for birth control, and that their monthly fertility cycle is a deviation from the biological norm, which is, of course, male. It is all a part of the pernicious package of social conditioning that keeps the patriarchy afloat; pornulation and the beauty ultimatum are more ubiquitous and obvious, but fertility ignorance is just as essential to the scheme of oppressing the sex-class.
I had written more on the topic, but alas, WordPress lost my insightful rant when its Save Draft button failed to do as advertised and, instead of saving my screed, lost it to the ether and presented me with a useless apology for its error. This is the best re-creation I could muster, and it will have to suffice, although I feel that it fails to accurately articulate my feminist outrage and the reasons therefore.
In any event, I’m pleased to ditch the pharmaceutical hormone regime. It allows me to engage in a small act of feminist rebellion which is a more visceral release of my ire and enmity towards the male megatheocorporatocracy than mere blogular ranting.
Much thanks to Twisty Faster, whose blog has recently not only inspired me to ratchet up my patriarchy blaming to an advanced level, but also given me a new vocabulary with which to express my observations of female oppression.
