In the article, "Birth Control Bummer?" it is found that using oral contraceptives results in less attractiveness and the inability of selecting a good mate. According to Dr. Alvergne and Dr. Lumma, when a woman ovulates she becomes more attractive. During ovulation, there is fluctuation in a "woman's facial appearance, vocal pitch, and body odor." As evidence, they found that lap dancers make more money on nights they were ovulating. All of this occurs because the woman's body is letting her know she is fertile and needs to find a mate. When birth control prevents a woman from ovulating, the increase in attractiveness does not occur.
Additionally, the article finds birth control limits a woman's ability to select a genetically ideal mate. It is found that when mates have dissimilar physical characteristics, they have a better chance of producing healthy children. According to a study at the University of Liverpool, when women use birth control, they don't detect these cues and tend to "prefer the odor of genetically incompatible men." However, women who are fertile tend to make the correct choice. They can rely more on their natural instincts.
It is advised in the article that despite these findings, there is no proof birth control will effect women long term. There is no proof that relationships will be worse and people will produce less healthy children if women use birth control.
I thought this article was rather interesting and worthy of consideration. To me, these findings do not seem strong enough for women to start making decisions about whether or not to use birth control. More importantly, I just wanted see if there are any reactions to this article. Do you think these findings are true? Or do you think birth control has no influence on attractiveness and the ability to choose mates?
Although this article seems rather "strange", I have read something similar to these findings of birth control in a medical magazine. Many people are skeptical of birth control because it seems very unnatural to control a woman's cycle. However, doctors would not be prescribing patients to use birth control if they did not trust the product. More over, the FDA would not continuously approve new birth control brands or new forms of birth control, like the NuvaRing. Overall, birth control has not effected women to the point that it should be recalled.
ReplyDeleteYet, there are several interesting facts that doctors may not present to you at first because it does not directly effect you a user of birth control. Similar to this article, the magazine I read discussed how birth control changes hormone levels in your body, which will effect you in other ways. From the tone of your voice becoming more "attractive", to your face shape becoming more "soft" and "feminine", to your natural body odor becoming more "pleasant." The article I read discussed an experimental study medical researchers held. Women would come into the lab once during ovulation and once during regular weeks. They would record their voices, reading the same passage the experimenters provided. Later in the week, random men were selected to listen to these voices, ranking the women on a scale of most attractive to least attractive. (keep in mind the men never saw these women nor did they know it was the same women during different stages of her cycle). The study showed that the majority of the men would rank women more attractive during time of ovulation.
With that said, I find it interesting the unusual indirect effects birth control can have on women, however; I don't think its grounds to forbid the use of birth control.
To be quite frank, this article seems completely ridiculous. There is scientific evidence to support that women using oral contraceptives may have varying levels of hormones compared to those who are not using contraceptives, but counting a lap dancers tips to prove your point? For one, the amount of tips any service industry worker gets are always variable, and they didn't state whether this was a weekend night for some women or not. Also, they're are considering biological attraction to be the best way to find "a mate", however, a mate in that sense literally means to mate with and produce children. The purpose of birth control is to avoid unwanted pregnancy, and therefore override biological attraction that can lead to it. If you want to outlaw birth control so that women can find better mates and be more attractive to men, then we might as well teach them all that you can make more money lap dancing if you're not on contraceptives as well.
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