Elayne Archer

This is the first in a series on Birth Control, compiled and presented with the aid of the Women’s News Co-op.

In less than 10 years there has been a staggering increase in the availability of contraceptive devices. The most talked about of these has been the pill. The media, drug companies and medical establishment have advanced and profited from the myth that the pill has led to the sexual liberation of women. But nothing of the sort has happened. Women are still denied complete self-expression in this society, are still the second sex—looked at by men primarily as sex-objects. The contraceptive explosion has not extended their possible life choices in many important ways. Families may be smaller but the woman’s place is still in the home. Furthermore, the continuing disclosures of many of the pill’s possible side-effects makes it abundantly clear that whatever “freedom” the pill has given is greatly diminished by the risks and uncertainties involved in taking it.

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