I sat in a radio studio this afternoon, opposite a 73-year-old woman, awkwardly head-bopping to a song neither of us recognised. As we waited with our over-sized headphones, braced for her cue to begin the live cross with the interstate ABC producer, the significance of today hit me.
Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Oral Contraceptive Pill. For me, up until that point, May 11 marked the day I’d be glued to the phone, manically engaging with journos to secure widespread coverage for the this key milestone. But this woman, who escaped Nazi Germany as a child and immigrated to Australia where she graduated with a medical degree, brought home how lucky we are.
This generation has no concept of struggling for sexual or reproductive rights – as women in a developed country that is. Hearing stories of GPs refusing to issue Pill prescriptions to unmarried women, and worse, to learn women were not officially represented at an early US Senate hearing into the Pill, is disconcerting. That women who went on the Pill were considered promiscuous, is dumbfounding to me.
This woman, our contraception campaigner, was a working mother in the early 60s, much to the disdain of her mother-in-law and friends. They could not understand why she’d want to work when she had a perfectly capable husband.
Today, the Pill continues to provide women with freedom from unplanned pregnancies. Modern Pills bring a much greater benefit than contraceptive control; cycles can be regulated, heavy bleeding eased and adult acne treated. The Pill can also help prevent against some cancers.
What's so great to see is that this milestone has affected people in so many ways. The Economist deemed the Pill “the greatest advance in science and technology in the 20thCentury” while a random blogger today thanked the Pill for preventing pro-creation with all her former 'loser' boyfriends. Not over PC, but it hits home.
Some great articles to come through:
Marie Claire Online:
The SMH Online:
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/the-sexual-revolution-turns-50-20100511-uqj2.html
So happy birthday to the Pill and thanks to the generations before us who have battled to secure the opportunities we take for granted today. xo
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