A fascinating podcast in which Dr Sarah Hill goes over the effects that The Pill causes on women taking it, here's some of them:
- Changes in emotional states: Increased risk of anxiety and depression
- Altered attraction: May dampen preference for masculine features in partner
- Decreased libido: Can reduce sexual desire due to lowered estrogen and free testosterone levels
- Impact on muscle mass: May influence the ability to put on muscle mass
- Potential long-term risks: Teenage girls on hormonal birth control may face a long-term risk of developing major depressive disorder
- Possible impact on brain development: Introducing synthetic sex hormones during teenage years may affect brain development
On top of that there was an interesting part of the podcast where the topic of Patriarchy came about.
Dr. Hill postulated that Patriarchy is an Epiphenomenon of human evolution:
- Men controlling most resources is a phenomenon that exists not because men are actively trying to exclude women, but because women value resource access in their partners.
- Throughout evolutionary history, women have often relied on men for resources, provisioning, and protection due to the demands of pregnancy, lactation, and childcare. Women who preferred partners with resource-accessing qualities were more likely to have offspring who survived and passed on this preference. Contemporary women have inherited this preference, even though they are now more able to access resources independently
- Men are generally more willing to take risks compared to women, which can be seen in activities such as gambling and entrepreneurship. This risk tolerance is related to the psychology inherited from ancestors, where men who took risks to gain resources had a higher chance of attracting mates and having children. Men tend to be more entrepreneurial because they are wired that way.
- Men compete with each other for resources to attract partners. The drive to acquire resources and attain status is linked to the potential for attracting more and better partners, which historically translated into greater opportunities to pass down genes
Overall the podcast is very interesting and more than worth the 2 hours it takes to go through it!