No, Birth Control Isn't Making People Lesbians

[Jilly_in_VA]

Throughout the near-decade I’ve been on hormonal birth control, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing—but the experience has always boiled down to whether the form of contraception I was on was right for me. As it turns out, the pill was not. I struggled with taking it consistently, and over time began to suffer from prolonged bouts of nausea and depression. Today, I’m a very satisfied Nexplanon user, but my fascination with birth control side effects—especially people’s varying self-reported side effects—has persisted. And in recent weeks, the wave of Twitter, Reddit, and TikTok users—and most infuriatingly, conservative influencers—pushing the theory that birth control can make you lesbian or bisexual has been equal parts fascinating, annoying, and frustrating.

To be clear: No, hormone medication cannot alter sexual orientation. But let’s unpack all this anyway.

First, here’s how this all started: Earlier this month, an Australian woman shared that she “became a lesbian” after going off the pill, claiming she felt “dull” while on contraception, only to now feel like a “horny teenage boy” with her new girlfriend. Of course, the story quickly went viral. The woman, Tessa, told the Australian Kylie & Jackie O radio show that before the pill, she used to be “100 percent into men,” and once she stopped taking it, she “suddenly” realized that “women are hot.” True!

“Thank God I came off the pill,” she said. “I’m living with my best friend and I couldn’t be happier.”

“Both anecdotally and when we look at the science and the data we do have, there’s no link between any specific change in a person’s libido with hormonal contraception,” Dr. Emily Barker, a Missouri-based OB-GYN and fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health, told Jezebel. She, of course, emphasized that individual anecdotes are valid and an important part of a broader conversation around birth control side effects.

https://jezebel.com/no-birth-control-isn-t-making-people-lesbians-1850025573

She either was or wasn't BEFORE then. Not after

[gratuitous]

1. I thought it was feminism that was turning women into lesbians

Don't tell me Pat Robertson got it wrong, and it was the pill all this time!

[Skittles]

2. I remember a lesbian comic

she said it cracked her up when men asked her if a bad sexual experience with a man made her a lesbian.....she said if that was true ALL WOMEN would be lesbians

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. I think it's important to draw a distinction between 'which gender you feel like having sex with

Last edited Wed Jan 25, 2023, 09:48 AM - Edit history (1)

on any given day, or even at any moment' ... and 'the gender (or both) with whom you feel a capacity to have a loving, long-term relationship with'.

To me, these are separate concepts that too often get lumped together. Take myself as an example. I am occasionally attracted to the idea of sex with a guy, and have done so ... but I've never even spent the night with a guy, let alone gone on a date with one. Hell I've never even cuddled with, or kissed a guy. I have however been married to a woman, and all my relationships (and it's a lot of them) have been been with women. Hence I call myself hetero-flexible, as this is the closest term to 'how I am'.

So in this particular story you posted, what would you say if you read, 6 months from now, that Tessa and her friend had broken up, and now she back '100% into men'? It has certainly happened in the history of the world, for people of both genders, right? Would you then say "She either was or wasn't BEFORE then. Not after"?

I think there's lot of people in this world who are hetero-flexible, who get lumped in as LGB, but they're really not. And I also think that hormonal balances could easily potentially impact the 'sex' part of it, but a lot less so the 'who I can fall in love with' part of it ... though the idea that hormonal balances could affect that is also not out of the question in my mind. In that case, it would just be a particular, persistent hormonal balance one carries thru their lives, as opposed to an exogenous one (i.e. brought about by medications).

Honestly, we're all just a bunch of chemical reactions going on, whether people want to admit that or not, and I don't especially buy the idea that 'you are or you're aren't homosexual' is necessarily true for everyone. Only for some. But then ... fundamentally what is it about them that's different from a straight person?

IMHO, nobody is born with a gay or lesbian or straight 'soul', which is kinda what you're suggesting. But then, I don't believe in magical stuff like souls, so ... there's that.

To sum up, I very much doubt quitting the pill caused her to switch from men to women, but I think ... it's conceivable, maybe, with some people. In all likelihood she was Bi all along and either didn't realize it, or just isn't copping to it in her account.

[gay texan]

4. I actually took one once as a joke

No kidding, I really did!

I can assure you I didn't feel the slightest bit lesbian-ish.

Still wanted a BF

[Bev54]

5. Well if all the women turned into lesbians, there would be no need for birth

control. Come to think of it......nor the stupid republican men who want women not to take birth control.