1 minute read
The Taboo Around Oral Contraception
from Feminews
by lpsa_lebanon
The Taboo Around Oral
Contraceptives
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Word associations are often used to illustrate a picture in our mind.
Feminine. Sensual. Independent.
Those are some words you may correlate to a few of your favorite female role models.
Promiscuous. Unfaithful. Cheap.
Regrettably throughout my pharmacy experience, I’ve heard these words spoken about these same role models…
Except the difference? They have chosen to take Oral Contraceptives (OC’s).
Taylor El Daccache
Professional Third Year Pharmacy Student
Lebanese American University
The possibility of having a choice when it comes to your own reproductive health scares some people.
Ask yourself:
What makes me so uncomfortable with low doses of Estrogen and Progesterone entering the female body?
Have I done the proper research on the topic or have I passively adopted the societal taboo around OC’s as my own?
Various psycho-social stigmas surrounding sexuality act as barriers that contribute to misinformation that impede the agency of one’s own body. To embrace the “my body my choice” mantra, such barriers must be broken.
Whether it’s your cultural, religious, or individual background that hosts some reservation on the topic, I ask for you to reconsider.
Break the barriers.
Start a conversation. Challenge the norm.
This same norm may be clouding our ability to give sound medical advice.
As healthcare professionals tackling the innovative world of medicine, we must keep our oath: Do no harm.
As a female tackling the expectations that have befallen onto me in the modern Arab world, I am here to reclaim the space society so adeptly taught me to not fill up.
