EP51: Holly Griggs-Spall on Birth Control, Feminism, and Moving Forward

What Holly Shares:

•      Untangling hormonal birth control from feminism
•      Why she was on the pill as a teen even before she was sexually active
•      The positive effects the pill had for her
•      The mental health affects the pill had on her
•      Her journey discovering who she was without hormonal birth control

What You’ll Hear:

•      The cultural marriage between feminism and the pill 
•      The pushback she received against her writing criticizing synthetic hormones 
•      How feminism has changed in the last 10 years 
•      Various forms of feminism and what they mean for women 
•      How the pill has become our cultural right of passage 
•      How hormonal birth control helped manage her painful periods 
•      Letting go of fear and embracing your teen’s sexuality
•      Teen pregnancy vs. side effects of hormonal birth control 
•      The paranoia, depression, and obsessive compulsive behavior she developed while on the pill
•      Rediscovering her emotional landscape post synthetic hormones
•      The dearth of critical examination of the pill’s side effects 
•      Side effects of the pill including reduced senses, lactation, and suicidal thoughts 
•      Why so many women are suffering from anhedonia and are unable to experience inherent pleasure in life 
•      Questioning how synthetic hormones affect our birthing, our parenting, and attachment 
•      Reclaiming the power of your own emotions, sense of self, and libido 
•      How synthetic hormones affect your attraction to other people 
•      Getting support for your own journey leaving hormonal birth control 
•      Learning about fertility awareness within the context of feminism
•      Imagining a future of feminist fertility awareness plus somatic consent practice 
•      Embracing men and boys in the feminist fertility movement 
•      How coming off of the pill can be part of a social movement