EP51: Holly Griggs-Spall on Birth Control, Feminism, and Moving Forward
What Holly Shares: Untangling hormonal birth control from feminism Why she was on the pill as a teen even before she was sexually active The positive effects the pill had for her The mental health affects the pill had on her Her journey discovering who she was without hormonal birth control What You’ll Hear: The cultural marriage between feminism and the pill The pushback she received against her writing criticizing synthetic hormones How feminism has changed in the last 10 years Various forms of feminism and what they mean for women How the pill has become our cultural right of passage How hormonal birth control helped manage her painful periods Letting go of fear and embracing your teen’s sexuality Teen pregnancy vs. side effects of hormonal birth control The paranoia, depression, and obsessive compulsive behavior she developed while on the pill Rediscovering her emotional landscape post synthetic hormones The dearth of critical examination of the pill’s side effects Side effects of the pill including reduced senses, lactation, and suicidal thoughts Why so many women are suffering from anhedonia and are unable to experience inherent pleasure in life Questioning how synthetic hormones affect our birthing, our parenting, and attachment Reclaiming the power of your own emotions, sense of self, and libido How synthetic hormones affect your attraction to other people Getting support for your own journey leaving hormonal birth control Learning about fertility awareness within the context of feminism Imagining a future of feminist fertility awareness plus somatic consent practice Embracing men and boys in the feminist fertility movement How coming off of the pill can be part of a social movement
