post response

Sorry,  the blog won't let me comment on existing posts; apparantly, I am not worthy to the blog!!

I think Melody poses an interesting question: Can individuals resist/access the pharmaceutically powered drive toward perfection? In regards to this question, I keep thinking about the idea of birth control. Birth control was first developed as a medical way to prevent pregnancy. In the late 20th and early 21st century, birth control has been advertised as a way to improve one's health - it has been proven to clear up acne and can also let women experience lighter periods. Currently, a woman can use the pill to rid oneself of experiencing a period alltogether. Thus, medicine has found a way to intervene in women's menstrual cycles. Not because it is medically necessary to do so, but because it is more convenient to not experience a period and drug companies will greatly benefit from the amount of women who use this pill. These benefits, clearer skin and lighter or non existent periods, changes the way women can perfect their bodies and also makes gender barriers less prominent. If a woman no longer needs to have a menstrual cyle then she has a body more like a man. Ultimately, promoting the use of birth control for clearer skin or to not have a period, which many types of birth control now specifically advertise for, has changed the way we think of reproduction medicine and reasons for taking hormonal drugs. I think it will be interesting to see where the use of birth control will go in the future, as it seems women and teenage females are using the drug to achieve perfection and not just to prevent pregnancy. Many teenagers get on the pill specifically to clear up acne.