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Discussion » Questions » Life and Society » Considering the huge social change the contraceptive pill has brought about, would you rate its invention as the greatest in recent times?
Benedict Arnold

Considering the huge social change the contraceptive pill has brought about, would you rate its invention as the greatest in recent times?

Today a common single woman's sexual freedom is widely acknowledged, and her sexual fulfillment has almost become her right. Could this have been possible sixty years ago in the pre-pill era, with the Damocles sword of pregnancy and consequent shame hanging over her? 

Posted - January 9, 2019
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Responses


  • 14795
    Why the shame....women were having babies long before marriage was invented.....every living thing from vegatation ,all animal ,bug and virus reproduce their spicies in one way or another....so what's so shameful when humans do it....? :)
      January 9, 2019 6:31 PM MST
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  • I don't think any other animal species has undergone social evolution as humans have; and the shame that I've mentioned, right or wrong, is one of that evolution's outcomes. This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at January 9, 2019 8:32 PM MST
      January 9, 2019 6:38 PM MST
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  • 14795
    Not in my extended and immediate family it's not....we are free of all those silly social barriers ...all happy as well...:) 

    There is nothing wrong in pairing up for life with out any mumbo jumbo....:)
      January 9, 2019 6:53 PM MST
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  • 19942
    I'm not sure you would have the same view if you had been born in 1945.  Back in the day, women didn't sleep around like they do now and finding yourself unmarried and pregnant was considered shameful.
      January 9, 2019 8:33 PM MST
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  • 14795
    My parents are not as old as that and never ever married....they had six kids and God help anyone that made crude or rude comments about it....I know one set of grand parents never married...I'm not sure about the other.....I'll have to ask ,but have never seen any wedding photos...
    We just live and get on with things....
    What is the point of having a tiny peice of paper saying you are married....Did it ever make people happy having that ? 
    My parents aren't married or brothers and sisters either ...all have kids apart from me....
    Who my siblings had sex with before being to gether with their partners I just can't say.....I do know that none of then ever fool around with others though....
    Ive only had one partner and still together.....god knows how I'm tolerated though...lol

    I think you'll find married people sleep around far more than you think...and throughout the ages and not just now.....
    How awful it must have been to be trapped in a love less marriage years ago...more so if one partner doesn't enjoy sex ...either one male or female can be left frustrated and so unhappy...
    Its not normal to live that way.....far better to find a partner you are compatible with i think and try them out first for a test run ....lol 
      January 10, 2019 3:03 AM MST
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  • 19942
    Well, here in the states, back in the day, having children out of wedlock was not the norm.  I'm not convinced that having a marriage certificate guarantees a long and happy marriage.  If it did. 50% of the population wouldn't be divorced.  Things have changed over the years.  If not being married and having children works for a couple, that's what matters.
      January 10, 2019 9:42 AM MST
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  • 14795
    True..:) 
      January 10, 2019 12:50 PM MST
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  • 5391
    I think the pill is in the top group, for sure. 

    But I can’t think of any single invention -of any time- that has had as great an impact as the smartphone. 
      January 9, 2019 6:33 PM MST
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  • 46117
    All it did was give permission to have more sex.   Why we need to have more sex is beyond me.  What is the use of it?  It is used to express intimacy and have children.  You can do that far better without any pills.   We use pills to fix all the ills of the world.  How about learning how to exercise self-control and wait until the right person comes along?

    Is that so far removed that we think this is a far-fetched idea because we cannot keep our legs crossed for the right one?  
      January 9, 2019 6:53 PM MST
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  • i think it's great 

    women should be able to enjoy however much sex they want whenever they want 

    who cares about babies or "waiting for the right one" 

    those are both personal decisions and i'm not going to shame someone into having the same morals as me, especially when they're based in some stupid obsolete idea that a women's virginity is special and they aren't allowed to express their sexuality OR even hint at enjoying sex 
      January 9, 2019 9:25 PM MST
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  • 46117
    This has nothing to do with shaming anyone.  There is nothing wrong with sex.  It is the IMPORTANCE of sex that gets lost in the shuffle.  I fail to see how a 14 year old kid needs to be protected from stds and pregnancy because we can shut her up with a pill.

    If people understood why sex is important, then I say HAVE AT IT.  Most people are way too young to be screwing indiscriminately.  You think the way you do, because you have not suffered the consequences of what the pill can cause.

    First of all, many people died of cancer because of taking that crap.  If sex is that important to you?  I think you need to get your priorities straight.

    It does have many useful qualities.  I'm not saying that.  But it also is a band-aid for covering up all kinds of mistakes.   We need sex education, not pills to cover up unwanted pregnancies and disease.

    There are better ways than just screwing indiscriminately and saying there is nothing wrong with sex.  THERE IS many things wrong with sex.   The pill does little to stop unwanted anything.   


      January 10, 2019 7:31 AM MST
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  • i was on the pill at 13 not because i was having sex but because i was bleeding profusely from my vagina for a month straight. what fixed that? birth control. 
    ive never heard of someone getting cancer from the pill? would i use mirena or any other levonorgestrel implant? probably not because i have heard bad stories about those. but again, it's a personal choice 

    and fyi, most women who get a form of bc get it because they are in a committed relationship and only having unprotected sex with a single person. 
    people who are having one night stands with randos are still using comdoms because birth control in any form does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases 
      January 10, 2019 9:52 AM MST
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  • 5835
    Ain't it funny how the women claim a right to have sex but they don't mention a man for the purpose? Sex is not a problem, the problem is when men and women want sex without involving a partner. That's lonely.
      January 10, 2019 5:57 AM MST
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  • 46117
    Having sex without a partner is a lot safer than screwing anything in pants.
      January 10, 2019 7:32 AM MST
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  • 10042
    LMAO!! 

    True!!!
      January 10, 2019 7:34 AM MST
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  • 14795
    Mostly I think without pants in England and more so when it's a summer outing....:) D 
      January 10, 2019 1:00 PM MST
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  • 6098
    Not at all.  I think taking oral contraceptives, whatever benefit we see them as having, is harmful to us because they alter unnaturally the chemistry of our bodies.  Seems to me so many girls now are not ashamed at all of unwed pregnancy but proud of it because they can be mothers.  But find other things to be ashamed of. 
      January 10, 2019 6:54 AM MST
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  • 10042
    Great for preventing pregnancy; useless in preventing disease. 

    STD rates are at an all time high in America, and many are incurable. I'll take a baby over a disease any day. 


      January 10, 2019 7:22 AM MST
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  • 46117
    There is no pill to overcome greed, lust, desire and bad choices it seems.  
      January 10, 2019 7:25 AM MST
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  • 10042
    I think I'll just quote two 80's songs here: 

    "Sex is natural, sex is good; not everybody does it, but everybody should". (George Michael)

    AND

    "Wrap it up, I'll take it". (Fabulous Thunderbirds) 

     

      January 10, 2019 7:33 AM MST
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  • 17398
    No
      January 10, 2019 4:32 PM MST
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  • 4631
    Wow! I really don't agree with that!

    I think the male double standard is still alive and proliferating.
    Many Western men pretend not to subscribe to it when it is to their advantage but they still choose to marry "the good girl," not the slut.
    I believe any woman who thinks she is free of the effects of male attitudes, gossip and reprehensible behaviours online has some very nasty lessons coming her way fast.

    Contraception helps a woman choose how and when she has her children,
    but it does not create sexual freedom because there are still numerous other ethical and practical constraints,
    such as taking care to avoid catching an STD,
    and doing one's best to avoid emotional hurt to oneself or another.
      January 10, 2019 6:31 PM MST
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  • 6098
    Yes but to be completely fair to men I think we need to accept that they are not the only ones who have a "double standard".  And, after all, we are not the same as men.  Mostly the same but are enough differences physiologically, sociologically, possibly even psychologically,  that I'm not sure we are capable of maintaining identical standards. 
      January 14, 2019 6:09 AM MST
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  • 4631
    A man who is non-sexist accepts that a woman may follow the same standards of morality in sex and relationships as he himself does.
    While liberal men with education in the humanities are more likely to give women the same freedoms as themselves without negative judgments, few other men on the planet do. Hence, if a woman cares about her reputation, the pill has had no effect whatsoever on giving her any kind of liberation. There probably was a period of more casual relationships after the Pill and before AIDS - but I believe most women quickly worked out that there was nothing satisfying in it and that the men still had their old fashioned mores. Most I knew stopped experimenting as soon as they met their life partner.
      January 14, 2019 4:13 PM MST
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