Lies my culture told me.

So I guess this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the birth control pill. From time to time someone references this in the media, as it floats into my email inbox. It all leaves me to wonder, what is there to celebrate? I'm a GenX woman, "the pill" has always existed in my world. It is taken for granted by people my age. Its hard for people who hold certain truths to be self-evident to realize that the premise is based on a lie, but my generation believes the freedom of the pill to be self-evident indeed, it was the woman's Declaration of Independence, back in its day. And so, what follows are the lies my culture has told me.

The pill will give you freedom. Ah freedom from slagging around a gaggle of children. But instead the modern American household is now a two income home, mom is chained to an office as much as dad is. And in the meantime someone still has to do the laundry. Women are more stressed out, scheduled, and burdened now than they ever were. So much for freedom.

You don't have to risk 'losing your body.' I love this one... the idea that children make you fat. Clinically proven, its the pill that causes weight gain. Birthing babies may cause some changes, but wider hips are nothing, a few curves here and there; the alternative is actual weight of the kind that puts women at risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes.

Birthing more than a culturally accepted number of children cannot be healthy. In fact, pregnancy and breastfeeding reduce a woman's risk of a number of cancers. Birthing and breastfeeding, it seems, are actually good for our bodies. Since when is it healthy to dose our bodies with hormones that don't belong there?

Women have more important things to do. Like what? Earning the almighty dollar? Promotions don't give you grandchildren, and corporate awards don't give you snuggles. You live, you earn, you die, and you can't take it with you. With kids, there's someone to outlive you, from generation to generation.

Women don't need men. Nope, with the pill women can just use them. But funny, we've become a culture of women who seem to need someone to use.

Birth control is good for families. Oh, except for all the little family members hormonally aborted. Never mind them.

When are we going to stop buying into this rubbish and see the truth? Hormonal birth control hurts women.