50 years of the legalized birth-control pill as of this week, but was it good or bad for feminism? (this is mostly rhetorical question, but maybe the results haven't been black-or-white)

women having control of their fertility? GOOD

wave one of feminism - voting rights

wave two - reproductive rights and breaking out of "homemaker" into the workplace and college

wave three - this generation asks: was wave one and two necessary?

hey y'all.....ayla here

i was not an adult
when NO safe and effective birth control was available to ANY woman,
so i can only assume that legal access to same
has been a monumental improvement
in women's mortality & health.

as a derail, jasper, were you joking or serious about the wave thing?
i hope you weren't serious.
it has been my experience that the 'wave' construct
has been very devisive for women, esp. feminists
and isn't at all useful.

ok, rerail,

flatbed flirt

I find it hard to believe that feminists are the ones asking if reproductive rights, voting rights, women's access to higher education and better jobs, etc. are necessary. Sarah Palin may be trying to co-opt the word "feminist," but the fact that she, Ann Coulter, you, and I have similar genitalia no more makes us political allies than it makes my five-foot self the Incredible Hulk. I can call myself a Honda Civic but if you stick a key in my ear and turn it, I'm not going to get 34 miles to the gallon on the highway.

Whether controlling women's fertility hormonally (as opposed to with something like an IUD) is the best method is debatable, but I don't think female-controlled fertility is seen as a negative by feminists, unless it's one of those groups that's misusing the term and is really an anti-woman front like "Feminists" for Life.

It's my personal belief that you can't be a feminist and against reproductive rights, and I won't call anyone pro-life unless they are anti-war and anti-death penalty. Pro-fetus or pro-forced-birth, but what they call "pro-life" is in essence anti-woman. When you'd rather see a pregnant woman die (hello, Catholic hospital and bishops) and orphan her four small children than perform a first-trimester abortion, you're not pro-life.

deleted post

Just to clarify, i think the legalizing of the pill was a momentous change and empowerment for women, which only came about after a very hard fight, and i made the original post because i didn't want to see such an important anniversary go unmentioned on this board. But for good-or-bad it's in my nature to wonder about what have been the consequences and changes in society, girls'/women's lives, sexual dynamics/behaviors and the treatment of girls/women because of it, have they all only been positive, and also how has feminism either succeeded or failed in reacting/capitalizing on those changes? ( Politically, practically and paradoxically speaking, maybe what is good for women is not always good for feminism and vice versa.)

Birk, to add on to what you're saying about that abortion case, i'd like to recognize the courage of the Catholic nun(and her order, because they are standing behind her) who made the decision to proceed with the abortion and took the responsibility for it. ( Actually, Catholic hospitals have professional and laity staffed ethics commitees specifically designed to weigh questions of treatment against political church doctrine to prevent such with-holding of medical proceedures from happening. But Bishops still have the tools and definately the training to try and run their diocese as little fiefdoms and i think the particular Arizona Bishop involved in this is one who aspires to be especially autocratic.) I cannot speak to how morally difficult it may-or-may not have been for her, but i think she certainly knew what the fallout would likely be, given the timing, for both her career and her inclusion in an institution she clearly cares deeply about. (Just as the sisters who stepped-up and spoke out about the non-inclusion of abortion funding in the health care bill knew they were bringing down upon themselves the wrath of many Bishops and the Vatican for years to come.) I don't know if such women would call themselves feminists or not. I suggest for consideration they may subscribe to an ethic even more demanding or maybe just broader in outlook than feminism (and by that i definately do not mean Catholicism). But surely such people can often be great allies in "feminists' causes, and feminism at times needs to cast a bigger net.

But my real underlying question is "why is feminism in such a weakened condition at present?".

(Ayla, thanks for responding. i did not know Ann "Mother" Hubbard, but i hope you are well and am sorry to hear about your and the festival community's loss.)

As the lesbian mother of a 20 year old heterosexual young woman, I believe that the Pill is still a very good thing. After two years of college, my daughter's summer job is working third shift at WalMart. She can't support herself on the wages she is earning, let alone a baby, if she were to get pregnant. Hopefully, she won't have to worry about getting pregnant as long as she takes her Pill everyday.
But just in case that she "accidently" gets pregnant, I'm glad that abortion is still a legal option.
As a public school teacher, I see that the results of children who were born to teenage parents or to parents who lack the skills to provide them with the nurturing they need are usually children who have behavioral issues that get in the way of learning. I hope that some day, parenting classes are required for the parents of children whose behavior interferes with their learning and the learning of others. IF the pill was more readily available, maybe many of these children wouldn't have been conceived until their parents were better prepared to nurture them. I think a Pill for boys/men should be marketed also.
And yes, birth control is a feminist issue.

There are many ways for a woman to exercise her reproductive rights and yes they are rights. Choice means what it means, that women have a choice whether to bear children or not at any particular time.

When I wanted a tubal ligation, the doctor asked me if I was married. Apparently in the state I lived, a women had to have permission from her husband to be rendered sterile. Since I wasn't married, it was a non-issue. I believe that husbands had to have permission from their wives if they wanted a vasectomy.

The best things to happen to women were the steps to reproductive freedom/rights: birth control, the pill, and legalized abortion. Of course, women are the ones taking the risk of birth control pills and some IUDs.

There is some research into a men's pill, but they say it takes more to control all the sperm and then what if they were rendered sterile? So research into that product is going slowly. Better to let women take the hormonal hit.

So I celebrate that women have the choice over the reproductive use of their bodies and work for it every day.

On another note and a bit of derail, I am saddened when some young women take for granted what we fought for as feminists and think that the fight is over. The Bush administration set us back many years in our evolution and in fact set back the nation in very many ways.