Stop raising your daughters to be damsels in distress.

It's the parent's fault for teaching her to prioritize her looks, putting her in sandals in the rain, and raising her different than your son.

RAISE YOUR DAUGHTERS AND SONS THE SAME. Gender roles start before conception when you choose to buy your female fetus bows and tell her as a newborn how pretty she is, versus buying your male fetus sensible shit like teething rings and telling him as a newborn how tough he is.

because there’s so little research on it, it seems unclear whether and to what extent the clitoris can “regrow” after taking contraceptives, or how the nerves are affected, or at what point you should expect sexual function to return. also, many young women start some form of BC before they’re 20, when sexual function is not yet fully developed and the cycle has not reached its mature pattern (often it’s girls with PCOS or amenorrhea or another menstrual irregularity, which may make them even more susceptible to these effects).

discussing the harms that can result from contraception still feels like a taboo topic, even though it’s something i’ve been talking about and personally dealing with for years. there are many other harms that can result from going a long time without ovulating, but sexual function is one that’s barely discussed, and beyond anecdotal experiences here and there of lower libido on BC, i don’t see women talking about it.

we deserve contraception that’s SAFE and EFFECTIVE, and the FDA approval guidelines don’t even necessitate that a product/device meets those at a high level. i’ve read transcripts from these approval meetings, and it’s all about “having as many options on the market as possible,” treating patients as consumers and doctors as expert salespeople who will help them find the right product. so if a birth control is unsafe and has a lower pearl index score (used to rate efficacy of contraception) but it’s been shown to prevent acne, you bet it’s going on the market! i’m not exaggerating with this, this is how these meetings go, and without even getting into the sketchy ass pharmaceutical representative system of introducing medications/technologies to doctors, i think it’s safe to say this is predatory and harmful.

Oppressed peoples don't get legislation passed or language changed that quickly. They don't have the ability to get someone fired for disagreeing with them. They can't threaten their oppressors the way trans people threaten "terfs" because there's actually consequences for us.

If people of color threatened white people that way, or women threatened men that way, or if gay people threatened straight people that way, we would not get away with it, let alone be cheered on by "progressives" and the government.

if you’ve ever had a nagging suspicion that “queer theory” and right wing traditionalism were secret butt-buddies, know that when “queers” define themselves as the one class of people who don’t adhere to “normal” gender roles and sexual practices, they reify and perpetuate hetersexuality and gender-conformity as the only “normal” way to be.