IS THERE A DOWN SIDE TO DRUGS THAT SUPPRESS MENSTRUATION?

My basic reaction to the development of drugs that suppress menstruation is:  "WHOO-HOO! Where can I get some?"  As I mentioned in my last post, I don't quite understand the notion of a woman wanting to continue to menstruate 12 times a year when she doesn't have to.  With perfect timing, Rachel at Alas, A Blog posted an excellent, well thought out piece outlining her reasons for "want[ing] her period," focusing primarily on her concern that menstruation will be (more than ever) framed as abnormal, bad, or gross.  In part she is worried that encouragement of this view will reinforce the phenomenon of women feeling shame about their bodies and that women will be pressured/encouraged into taking menstruation suppressents in order to reach some ideal of sexual attractiveness regardless of the potential consequences for their health (given that the long term health effects of menstruation suppressents are not well known). 

I think these are valid concerns.  But no matter how you slice it, menstruation, while nothing to be ashamed of, is inconvenient.  It is something that must be addressed several times a day, and in the middle of the night, for approximately one week every month. If I don't have to do it, I don't wanna. For many women, it is accompanied by discomfort or pain.  Here is what I said in the comments section at Alas:

I think you are absolutely right to be leery of how this thing is going be marketed and treated in our culture. I can absolutely see it being treated like something women should do to make themselves more sexually appealing to men, regardless of the consequences for the women. And I can see that kind of reinforcing all sorts of damaging notions. I can also imagine a class divide by which menstruation will become associated with poorer women who can’t afford this medication.

But unlike many other things that women are encouraged to do for the sake of sex appeal (such as undergoing plastic surgery or wearing spike heels), this one has the potential to make our lives much easier (assuming that this drug is safe over the long term).

To me, this medication has always been linked to the idea of my convenience and my control. I am not ashamed of my period or grossed out by my period. But I do find it inconvenient. And that’s a good enough reason for me to hope that the Pharma folks get cracking on studying the potential health effects. My body exists for my pleasure and convenience and anything that can enhance those two things safely is a net positive in my book!

Comments

[Sara]

I take a birth control pill that makes my period very gentle or occasionally nonexistant. Often, it'll be about 12 hours where I need to use a tampon and then I'm in the clear. It's kind of the best of both worlds - cramps aren't really an issue and I still get the reassurance that I'm not pregnant.

[Omphale]

Connie Willis had a fabulous short story called "Even the Queen" that imagines a world where no woman has to have her period. It's pretty damn funny, but also points out how incredibly freeing it is not to have to deal with these things...and has a subtle point in there about how motherhood becomes as active a choice as a career, because there are no accidents in this world.

[Jess]

Personally I hate my period, because it's painful and heavy and because I don't plan on having any more children anyway, so, really, what's the point?!

And let's face it, while menstruation is completely normal and natural, it's still a messy pain in the butt. I do think it's disgusting how these drugs are marketed, however, because this is about women's health and not about how much sex they're "able" to have.

I have a theory that most advertising agencies are run in secret by 13 year old boys.

[Omphale]

Back in my bad old days of debilatating cramps the thought I always had while lying on the floor clutching my bottle of Ibuprofen:

"I have to go through this every 26 days for thirtysome years because 6,000 years ago some dumb bitch ate an apple?"

And my father wonders why I don't go to church anymore.

[Chalicechick]

Thanks to the pill, mine is pretty light and only lasts a couple of days. If I'm not on the pill, I rarely have it at all.

But I don't want children, and I don't want to get rid of any either, and at the slightest weirdness in my stomach at any time of the month I start to worry, sometimes envisioning a tiny hand extending from my womb to wrap around the inside of my throat.

I take the pill responsibly and by package directions, but pills do fail. And I was an accident and the child of an accident so I was highly improbable in the first place.

Most months, I'm looking forward to the reassurance. But most of all, I look forward to menopause.

CC
aware she's sounding pathological, but that's the way it is.

[The Happy Feminist]

Sounds pretty sane to me!

[Jess]

I take hormone pills (skip the white pills) continuously to avoid my period as management of my endometriosis. Since it would be difficult for me to accurately differentiate between what positive effects are due to the control of the endo and which are due to the cessation of my periods, I won't try, but I can tell you this: I feel my mood changes are more my own, I don't miss the mess and definitely don't miss the cramping, vomiting and general misery that took a week or so out of my life every month before I started this treatment 4 years ago.

And I'm with you on the sex appeal issue, THF; as for things society tells women to do to be attractive, this one has some pretty significant personal benefits beyond the partner-related ones.

[Terry]

I wish they'd make something like this for menopausal women. I'm at the point where I have hot flashes and all the other meno. symptoms, but I still have periods. On an EXTREMELY irregular schedule. I don't think I should have to deal with both.

[Amanda Marcotte]

I really am uncomfortable with the implications that supressing your period so you can have sex more is "for" men at the expense of women. I said this at Alas. Sex on your period isn't fun for women, so I don't see why supressing it wouldn't be to our benefit as well.

[The Happy Feminist]

I think that is a really important point. My comment had to do with the way it would likely be marketed -- and possible pressure on women to go for the more convenient sex in order to please the menfolk even if the woman herself might otherwise prefer to forego the potential long term risks of menstruation suppressents.