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This feminist tweet from Holly Bourne is SO important


We were scrolling through Twitter yesterday minding our own business, reading the latest celeb goss, keeping up with the Kardashians etc. when a certain feminist AF lady‘s tweet caught our eye.

Hang on, whaaattt?! It seems like Holly Bourne, author of the beloved YA Spinster Club series, might be suggesting women are being short changed on the medical front, but is she right?

Let us know whether you think this is totally a feminist cause to get behind or just pure coincidence in the comments below, but hear us and the facts out first:

When it comes to contraception, there’s often two particular kinds that come to mind: the pill for females and the condom for males. Except it turns out there are quite a few more side-effects for one than the other. Can you guess who’s at the disadvantage?

That’s right: the ladies. We’re really not surprised tbh.

Not only are women often relied on for contraceptive reasons, since some guys think that “sex with condoms doesn’t feel as good”, but they’ll also have to deal with much more long-term, dangerous side-effects than a guy would if he’d just wrap himself up.

There are very few non-hormonal choices for girls if they want to stay safe and most of the ones that are are pretty antiquated for the modern woman in your life. In fact, pretty much all contraceptive methods come with some sort of dangerous or annoying side-effect
 except for condoms, that is.

Anyone who’s been watching Hannah Witton’s ‘Hormone Diaries’ series on YouTube would be able to see how annoying and complex the pill/coming off it and finding an alternative really is.

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Plus condoms are probably the most handy contraception to use because they’re the only ones that prevent other unwanted things – like STDs. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

So, ladies, in reality, have very limited options to stop baby making other than pumping their body full of extra hormones. And these extra hormones, well, new studies make us kinda fear just how extreme their side effects can be.

A study published in JAMA Psychiatry (the one the ever lovely Holly Bourne has been talking about on Twitter), which assessed over 1 million girls in Denmark, suggests that women who take the pill and a whole range of other hormonal contraceptives are more likely to suffer from depression.

And no, that doesn’t mean depressed people want more contraception – these results were found after the ladies in the study had started taking the pill and they counted first time prescriptions for antidepressants as well as first time diagnoses of depression.

What the study found was pretty scary tbh. On the combined pill, users were 23% more likely to be prescribed antidepressants and, on the progesterone-only pill, that increased to 34% more likely. When we see these kinda stats we’ve got to ask what gives?!

So now all us out there with vajayjays who don’t want to get pregnant have to put ourselves at a considerably higher risk of depression?! Nah. No thanks. Sorry. We’re understandably not okay with this.

Just like Holly said in her tweet, though: men would not put up with this.

If it were an option, how many men out there would willingly take a pill every single day that could lead to depression, decreased sex drive, blood clots, mood swings and even death? Just to prevent unwanted pregnancy? Because so many women put themselves through that already, day in day out, without complaint.

Don’t freak out and throw away all your pills because these kinds of things react in very individual ways for each individual but it’s always worth considering the dangers – they can and do happen.

So what is going on? Would all our pill problems be solved right now if only men were the ones who were responsible for this kind of baby protection? If condoms had the same side-effects as hormonal contraceptives would scientists have already bing, bang, boshed out a 100% safe, effective alternative?

Maybe this is all just one massive coincidence. Perhaps there isn’t an underlying inequality to blame for the lacking medical advances in safe contraceptive pills at all. We can see both sides of the argument but what do you think?

When it comes down to it, it’s worth thinking about the other gender inequalities in medicine too. Like the fact women on the Autistic spectrum are commonly misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all, because of a lack of understanding in how differently the disorder affects the sexes.

You’d think doctors would’ve figured it all out by now but apparently not.

And while we’re on the topic, social media savvy Kelly Oxford has an excellent point:

We don’t have any proof that this would be a thing if it were possible but, personally, we wouldn’t be even the slightest bit surprised.

All you have to consider is how condoms are free in many, many places but necessary sanitary items like tampons are still being taxed as a “luxury”.

Yeah, that still makes us “WTF?!” every time we think about it too. Periods are anything but a luxury. Some people might be trying to convince us they’re cool, but Mother Nature’s gift? More like Satan’s.

For many it seems like the world is out to benefit men at every corner with only a footnote of space for the ladies out there and tbh we’re tired of it. Agree or nah?

It’s just not okay to think women out there are becoming severely ill from taking the pill, or are paying above the odd prices for their 100% necessary period survival kit, or are not being diagnosed properly because of a lack of research in their gender.

It’s not alright to let this happen, whether the inequality in certain aspects of women’s health is because of internalised sexism or just random chance. We need a better and brighter future for all.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Agree with the feminist stance or do you think we’re making a mountain out of a molehill? Have your say in the comments below.