I Spent a Lot of Free Ti...

I spent a lot of free time researching the birth control pill and thinking about its effects on women and society. Millions of women take these hormone-altering pills, yet few know what it actually does and how it impacts the dating market. I’ll share my learnings below. (View Tweet)

First off — your hormones are what make you YOU. Your sex hormones influence how you think, feel, see the world, behave, look, smell, etc. They are commonly responsible for digestion, metabolism, sleep, stress, growth, sex, menstrual cycle, mood, etc. (View Tweet)

Next thing — the menstrual cycle! A woman’s main sex hormones is estrogen and progesterone. Her ~28 day menstrual cycle is split up into two main phases: the follicular and luteal phase. (View Tweet)

The follicular phase is the conception phase, and estrogen takes center stage. It starts on Day 1 when a woman gets her period and continues until ovulation. During this time, women will likely feel more flirty, outgoing and social. (View Tweet)

After ovulation day, she’s now in her luteal phase, and progesterone takes center stage. This is the implantation phase and its main purpose is to prepare the uterus for a possible pregnancy. Women tend to feel hungrier, sleepier and more relaxed than normal. (View Tweet)

If the egg isn’t fertilized, then the woman gets her period and is now back on Day 1 of her menstrual cycle. (View Tweet)

A woman's hormones change on a day to day, week to week basis every ~28 days or so. BUT ON THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL, 1) a woman doesn’t ovulate and 2) her brain thinks that she's in the progesterone dominant luteal phase of the cycle. (View Tweet)

Most women who take the pill do so for a targeted effect (prevent pregnancy, acne, menstrual cramps, etc). She will get the desired effects, BUT the effects aren’t targeted. The synthetic hormones in the pill influence the activities of billions of cells in her body. (View Tweet)

And here’s where the potential side effects come in: low to no libido, depression, anxiety, mood swings, migraines, period loss, hair loss, weight gain, brain fog, yeast infections, blood clots, high blood pressure, liver tumors, fertility issues and so on. (View Tweet)

There’s a study that showed that pill-taking women are more attracted to men who had less masculine qualities. Another study found that women had more relationship satisfaction in their partners financial provisioning and intelligence vs. in sexual arousal and body attraction. (View Tweet)

There are many stories of women in relationships who get OFF the pill and become no longer or much less sexually attracted to their partners. They noticed greater sexual interest towards other attractive men to the extent of some even cheating on their partners. (View Tweet)

Note: This effect doesn’t seem to happen with partners who are genuinely attractive. Women were actually MORE attracted to them off the pill. (View Tweet)

For women, the ideal man has both the qualities of a “Chad” (attractive, sexy) and a “Dad” (family man, financially secure). I guess this is what you'd call a “high value man.” Unfortunately, these type of men are rare and most women have to make a tradeoff. (View Tweet)

Decreased sex drive! Research backs the idea that 1) women are less interested in sex and 2) women have sex less frequently. Women’s free T levels take a steep decline as well. Most research finds that the levels of free T are ~61% lower than women who aren’t on the pill. (View Tweet)

Mood issues! The TLDR is that a woman’s risk of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts are increased on the pill. So no, all of these mood swings are likely not coming from the woman because she’s “crazy,” it highly likely that the pill is making her feel this way. (View Tweet)

Post birth control syndrome! These are the potential side effects after getting off the pill. They may include the loss of menstruation, infertility, pill-induced PCOS, hypothyroidism, gut dysfunction and autoimmune symptoms. (View Tweet)

NOW! It’s not all doom and gloom. Not all women will experience these side effects. Some women actually feel better on the pill. There are different pill brands and they can affect each woman differently. (View Tweet)

Societal impact! There’s pros and cons, and you will soon see where I stand on the cons. We’ll talk about women prioritizing their careers, men achieving less and hookup culture. (View Tweet)

Women can delay marriage and family life to instead focus on their careers and achieve the things they want without worrying about becoming pregnant. And women are actually doing so well that we’re outpacing men in most things education, school and workforce related. (View Tweet)

Men are achieving less than they used to. Many of the things that men do are motivated by the desire to impress women. Men’s brains are wired to be inspired to do things that women value because women dictate the conditions needed to occur for sex to happen. (View Tweet)

The more women have higher standards, the harder men will work to be chosen. Unfortunately, many women’s standards have gotten too low. When sex is no longer difficult to get, men naturally lose the motivation to achieve. (View Tweet)

Modern day feminism + birth control pill → rise of hookup culture. Women can sleep with men they wouldn’t dream of marrying, and men don’t have to put much effort (or any) into sleeping with a woman if her standards are low. (I’m not judging, just calling it like it is) (View Tweet)

I strongly believe that casual sex is a detriment to women. It’s all fun and games until there’s attachment, heartbreak, shame, emotional pain and regret. All for what? A man who doesn’t care about you? Or even for a man you don’t really care about? (View Tweet)

So there we have it — the woman’s menstrual cycle, what the pill does, its side effects and its impact on the dating market. The most important thing you can do is to inform yourself, and then make your own decisions with the information. (View Tweet)

For my ladies: 1. If in a relationship, perhaps take a break from the pill to see if you’re still attracted to your partner (helps prevent time being wasted) 2. Think if the pros of taking the pill outweigh the cons (View Tweet)

3. Look into the fertility awareness method. It’s rarely talked about but it’s a great method for preventing pregnancy, being in-tune with your body and not taking hormone-altering methods (View Tweet)

You only have one life, one body. Please value, protect and nourish it. You’ll thank yourself later. (View Tweet)