It’s a woman’s right to choose

Five new methods of birth control explained

By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 18, 2007

"Patchy problems." By Deirdre Fulton.
"The boys and the bees." By Deirdre Fulton.

Sorry guys, this one’s for the girls.

Or, maybe not. After all, despite the fact that the male birth control pill is still a researcher’s dream (see sidebar, “The Boys and the Bees”), birth control is (or should be) the province of both sexes. There just happens to be a slight imbalance, financially and physiologically: guys have to think about condoms; girls have to weigh many more options, ones that require trips to the doctor, prescriptions, and occasionally, the insertion of foreign objects into our bodies (no pun intended; grow up).

Sex — and attempts to avoid its natural consequences — have been around for rather a while now. In the 20th century, the innovations were both chemical and physical — the intra-uterine device (IUD), the birth-control pill, the diaphragm, the made-famous-by-Seinfeld sponge. Some of these proved popular (the Pill), others caused controversy (the IUD), others faded into oblivion (have you ever met a diaphragm user?). There were flares of innovation along the way, such as the six-rod Norplant implant in the 1990s, or the contraceptive patch, introduced earlier this decade. A lot of improvements were limited to fine-tuning the chemical cocktail that makes up prescription-issue pills, to improve effectiveness and reduce negative side effects for women with different tolerances for hormones involved in the reproductive cycle.

1 | 2 | next >

Topics: Lifestyle Features , Media, Health and Fitness, Medicine, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

ARTICLES BY DEIRDRE FULTON

MAINE WOMEN’S FUND AWARDEES ARE BUILDING A NEW WORLD | May 16, 2013
On the surface, they have little in common: An unassuming entrepreneur in her late 50s, an accomplished 38-year-old photojournalist, and a trio of energetic teenagers. But these women do exhibit several shared traits. They are plucky and passionate, clever and unpretentious. They are Mainers. And all five will be honored next Thursday, May 23, at the Maine Women's Fund's annual Leadership Luncheon, which honors those who are making life better for women and girls in this state and beyond.

UNION BATTLES CONTINUE | May 16, 2013
An update on the state employees' union's dispute with the governor, plus union organizers' plans for medical-marijuana workers.

LET IT GROW | May 09, 2013
In addition to its ecological value, the abundant marine resource is also worth money — millions of pounds of rockweed are harvested every year.

LEGISLATURE WADES THROUGH HUNDREDS OF PROPOSALS | May 09, 2013
Want to know what your elected officials are mulling over? Here is a subjective selection of bills that piqued our interest.

LABORERS MAY HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE | May 03, 2013
Even as the organized-labor movement continues to falter on the national level, union leaders here in Maine are optimistic about a potential resurgence — or if not that, at least a stanching of the bleeding and an opportunity to prove that pro-union policies are best for local workers and communities.