Our libidos, our selves

Listen up, ladies. We've all heard the anecdotal evidence that taking the pill does a number on your sex drive. But did you know that the effects might be enduring long after you are off the birth control medication?

This is really freaking me out, even though I've never taken oral contraceptives. It's just so damned indicative of the low-priority placed on female sexuality even now. If a contraceptive did this to men, you can bet your horses we'd be hearing about it.

This kind of thing is depressing enough to take from the "establishment". But even more upsetting is the number of feminists who are denying that Female Sexual Dysfunction exists at all, having gotten the quixotic notion that big Pharma is inventing this whole phenomenon to sell chick-viagra. The reality is exactly opposite -- FSD is a very real problem that has been shoved under the rug repeatedly as the medical industry focus on the much more lucrative men's sexual dysfunction market.

A bit of personal sharing (don't worry, nothing too yucky) seems to be in order. I've had an ovary removed due to the fact that I had a huge cyst growing on it. Ever since the operation, my hormone levels has been unstable, which affected my sex life to the extent that I sought out medical advice a few years ago. Repeatedly, I was asked whether my boyfriend just didn't know how to treat a woman right. The funny thing was, I didn't even have a boyfriend at the time, but I didn't want to admit that because I was young and timid and did not want to let on that I, ahem, knew my own body. Yes, readers. I went on to defend the sexual skills of hypothetical boyfriend. After that I was just too embarrassed to seek further medical advice. The problem ended up resolving itself partially, but I am not happy about the way I was treated, and mad as hell at well-intentioned "feminists" who dismiss my problems as a figment of big-pharma's imagination.

Go read Lis Riba. She has got an impressive roundup of posts on this issue, often from a personal perspective: A feminist on Female Sexual Dysfunction.