I think that the pill combined with the culture of greed and materialism has robbed women of much of their potential and happiness.

Women now take the pill, advance their careers so they can, with or without a spouse, get that modern waterfront apartment and BMW, then they quickly have children which they just as quickly deposit at a childcare institution each morning, rush to work, then come home exhausted to face grizzly children and a worn-out husband.

This kind of lifestyle, to me, borders on madness. It's a situation where no one wins. The biggest losers are the children although these part-time mothers miss out on a lot too.

You can't have it all!

What a refreshing voice on the deep and vastly unrecognised effects that the pill has had over the past 50 years! Am I grateful that I, a young woman, have no fear of applying for any job I please? Yes. But when friends of mine who are successful young lawyers, doctors and finance workers whisper to me that they would really love to have a family and would not mind giving up their perfect careers to do so, as if they fear being despised by society for desiring such treacherous things, I wonder just what price we are paying, and whether it is all worth it.
A balanced article. Thank you

Firstly it is worth noting that Amy Vierboom is paid by Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and works for their Life, Marriage and Family Centre.

Secondly – I find it hysterically amusing that Amy believes that other women believe that her ‘fertility is some sort of disease that needs to be “managed”’. Hugh!!?? I don’t think anyone else is interested in the slightest. Don’t wanna take the Pill? Don’t!

I could go on – but frankly I don’t care enough about the authors personal hang up’s and total historical ignorace.

The role of the pill is overstated, given the many other changes in society in the last 50 years, and the other ways people - especially young people - can engage in sex per se.

"sexual freedom of expression" is a conflation of number of concepts, to the point of confabulation.

""Surely feminism should be about femininity? I’m not talking about the perfect housewives of 1950’s advertising. Admittedly, it’s difficult to work out the hard and fast rules of what is feminine as opposed to masculine." This is bordering on 'reductio ad absurdum'

and this is a non-sequitur - ""If we let women be women, it will not only give men the chance to be the men"

Something else happened during the Whitlam years. The orphanages were quickly emptied of babies. The stigma of bastard births was removed. I can still remember going through St Anthony's, Sydney in 1950. There were large wards of up to twenty cots of babies waiting for adoption if they were lucky. These institutions closed down quickly when women for the first time had a real choice of keeping their babies or not. The illegal and backyard abortion centres also were no longer needed, saving many lives. Mr. Whitlam might have been a failure but many of his changes still survive today as far as woman is concerned.

Yes I agree that the pill has altogether been bad news.

Yes this will be, and is the favourite topic of the self-righteous catholic moralists all over the world. Remember too they staunchly advocate their archaic dogma that ALL forms of "artificial" contraception are an unforgivable mortal "sins"--even on a par with murder. Of course many ordinary catholics ignore the advice of these pooh-bar moralists.

And yes emotional-sexual confusion AND IGNORANCE is a seemingly unsolvable problem. A problem which the old catholic pieties are incapable of really addressing or solving.

Plus catholics are in the absurd situation wherein CELIBATE priests are the supposed "authorities" on emotional-sexual matters!

Indeed the old pieties, or rather puritanical double-minded ignorance, is very much a principal cause of the widespread ignorance and confusion. Indeed this puritanical double-mindedness IS the ROOT cause of ALL of seemingly intractable social problems, including global warfare.

The only real answer to all of this is a comprehensive non-squeamish emotional-sexual education which emphasizes how to take full responsibilty for ones sexuality and reproductive potential.

This book describes what is thus required. It is the product of hundreds of hours of very frank non-squeamish considerations.

http://www.dabase.org/small.htm

This reference gives a glimpse of the method used in such consideration.

http://www.dabase.org/2armP1.htm#prologue