I got my first period on my first day of seventh grade. It was on that day my 12-year-old self decided to hate uteruses.
If hearing about “girl stuff” makes you uncomfortable, stop reading now — although if that’s the case, you should also take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself why you’re such a chump.
Anyway, back to pubescence. Periods are a natural part of a female’s life. We hear about cramps, headaches and PMS in all their glory. But for some girls, periods are more than minor cramps and mood swings. They’re hell.
For a solid seven years, my periods wreaked havoc on me month after month. Until I started taking birth control, half of each month revolved around me dealing with my uterus, hindering my ability to live life. While a lot of people might see this as an exaggeration, it really isn’t.
I got tired of waking up in the morning in such crippling pain I couldn’t get out of bed. I can’t even tell you how many times I missed class because of how severely my periods incapacitated me.
My periods essentially made me sick for a few days every month. Mentally and physically drained, I could hardly function. My doctor recommended I go on birth control, and since then, my periods haven’t negatively interfered with my health.
Unfortunately, too many people hold the notion that anyone on birth control pills is taking them only to prevent pregnancy.
My doctor told me a more accurate way to refer to birth control pills would be “hormone therapy.” If preventing the fertilization of an egg isn’t the only thing birth control does, it’s certainly not the only reason a woman might start taking the pill.
When you hear about a young female taking birth control, the first assumption you’re likely to make is, “Oh, she’s having sex.” There are a lot of reasons why making that assumption is not OK. Here are a few:
1) You have no idea why she’s taking birth control, nor is it your business. For all you know, she could be asexual.
2) Even if she is having sex, it’s her life and that’s her choice. You have no right to make harsh judgments or even guess at what (or who) she might be doing in her free time.
3) You aren’t her doctor, and you have no idea what’s best for her.
Taking birth control isn’t synonymous with being sexually active. This might come as a surprise to some of you, but I’m not taking birth control so I can have frequent and indiscriminate sex with strangers without the burden of raising a human child.
Even if I were having frequent and indiscriminate sex, it’d be none of your business. Last time I checked, you don’t have a Ph.D in telling me how to live my life.
There are plenty of reasons why a woman might start taking birth control. If an unwanted pregnancy just so happens to be prevented, cool. But if it also helps prevent periods from interfering with a woman’s ability to function without collapsing over in pain, that’s pretty cool too.
As a message to my uterus: I’m sorry I hated you for so many years. You’re really not that bad after all, and maybe we can even be friends some day. If I seem distant, it’s only because I’ve been hurt before.
Speaking for myself and many of my female friends, birth control pills have far more benefits than just preventing pregnancy. It’s time for more people to recognize that.
Shirin Chowdhury is a 20-year-old English junior from Manhattan, Kansas. You can reach her on Twitter @TDR_schowd.