I’ve been reading a bit about the new birth control pill called Anya, which carries the rather dubious benefit of completely stopping the period of any woman who takes it. The Montreal Mirror just praised it as “Angel of the Week”, suggesting that women will be universally delighted to rid ourselves of the dreaded Aunt Flow. Periods have long been a huge cash cow for companies who need to convince us of the importance of keeping our monthlies discreet and under wraps, mostly by telling us they’re nasty, shameful occurances best kept secret. “Menstrual suppressants” seem to be the latest thing being touted to women as empowering and liberating, and quite frankly the whole deal sketches me out.
Now, I’m not going to get all earth-goddess on you here; I don’t necessarily see my period as a beautiful gift from Mother Nature that should be protected at all cost. But I refuse to buy into yet another product-pitch that seems to want to convince me that the way my body has functioned since age twelve is messy, inconvenient, and gross.
Marketers love to use the feminist language of choice to convince us that the latest technological or pharmaceutical development is in our best interest, if not downright empowering: we can now choose whether or not we bleed, just like we can choose to pump up our breasts or snip our labia. But is it really women who are going to benefit from this? Or is it just another attempted cash-grab off of women’s insecurities?
Macleans published this article last year, which offers a rather more nuanced take on the drug. It seems that, since no one is entirely sure why menstruation exists, evolutionarily speaking at least, the health benefits (or downsides) to stopping it are anyone’s guess. And it looks like the next generation of pubescent women will be the guinea pigs.
As one health practitioner in the Macleans article points out, ejaculation is messy, inconvenient, and in most instances unnecessary. I wonder how many research dollars have been allocated to develop a pill that will suppress it.
N.B. I sent a letter along these lines to the Mirror; we’ll see if it makes the light of day.
Digg
Facebook
del.icio.us
three comments
Thanks for the post. I have a couple alternative points:
As far as I understand it, there is nothing new about this drug. If you don't take the sugar pills included with normal birth control, you don't get your period. Women have been doing this for a long time, with their doctors' approval. It was often recommended that you let yourself menstruate at least every three months, but that's just a rule of thumb made up by doctors because there hadn't been research done on the subject. The new name is just marketing. I might criticize the marketing itself, though, for implying that you *can't* control your period with normal birth control pills. Pharmaceutical companies often try to sell us the same product more than once.
Like you say, we don't know what menstruation is for. But we do know that 21st century women menstruate much more than previous generations, because we are pregnant much less. This, theoretically, is why so many of us are anaemic. Our bodies aren't really designed to bleed every month.
I will look into this for myself, because I have been suffering from debilitating cramps for years. I lose at least a day a month, and I know I am not the only one. A drug company trying to subvert my freedom of choice into their profits doesn't stop me from exercising it on my own.
On the other hand, I always resent feminism-as-marketing. I think we need to stop telling women that menstruation specifically and their bodies in general are dirty/gross/etc. I wish that the money that was spent repackaging birth control into "Anya" could have gone towards more research on how often, if ever, we need to menstruate to stay healthy.
Posted by allison
July 1, 2006, 3:21 PM
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Allison.
Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting that no one should take this pill, ever, or that those who do are corporate dupes. Rather, I'm dismayed by the implication -- suggested by the Mirror blurb and Anya's own marketing language, among others -- that period suppression is a boon to *all* women, as though periods in the abstract really are the "curse" they're made out to be.
I'm not bound to the idea of preserving what's "natural" above all else -- breast surgery makes sense for some women too. But, as you point out, research money isn't being directed at studying women's health from a holistic perspective but rather one that makes for good marketing copy -- and that's a major red flag for me.
I just wish that more of a critical perspective could be taken on stuff like this -- which is, I guess, what message boards like this are for. So booyah to us.
Posted by Anna
July 1, 2006, 6:10 PM
(Sorry for the late reply - I'm doing some research on Anya and came across this.)
"But I refuse to buy into yet another product-pitch that seems to want to convince me that the way my body has functioned since age twelve is messy, inconvenient, and gross."
What about 'excruciatingly painful'? There are some women - who are quite comfortable being women withOUT bleeding from the genitals once a month - who experience periods that are really, really painful. Mine are usually sufficiantly bad that I spend the first two or three days curled up in foetal position while off my face on as many painkillers as it's actually safe to take, contemplating suicide and/or homicide the entire time (partially due to the hormones, but also partially because I'm in so much pain I can't think).
Tablets like Anya would be a LIFESAVER in this case - one simple pill a day (and I already take daily medication for an unrelated condition, just need to add one more!), and I get that tenth of my life that I spend in agony back! Fantastic! :D
...Anyway, do you know if these are available in Australia yet?
Posted by Naomi
May 18, 2008, 4:53 PM
Leave a comment
This blog post is older than 90 days old. All comments submitted regarding this post will be automatically held for review by the editors before posting. Your comment will not appear on the site until it has been approved.
Our comment policy
Shameless prides itself on the diversity of opinions expressed by our writers, and we encourage and appreciate different points of view. Our intention at Shameless is to foster community and to maintain a safe and positive blogging environment; we do not consider it our duty to give a voice to anybody with an opinion.
Discussion on this site is moderated. We will delete comments that:
(We get to decide what's discriminatory, hateful, attacking, or inflammatory).
In some cases, we will cap off comments on a discussion when we feel they are spiralling out of control and fostering an unwelcoming space for bloggers and readers. Comments will be closed by the Web Editor, unless the post is by the Web Editor, in which case the Editor in Chief will close them.
If your comments repeatedly make the same point, they may be deleted. This also applies to comments made by multiple members of the same organization.
Your comments should be about the topic of the post, not its writer—although we certainly encourage praise for our writers, if you want to say something nice.