The Commonfolk's Guide to Bears

"Like it or not"

As in, it's okay to disapprove of the invention of birth control?!

The greatest invention, ever!!!

The Pill may not have fulfilled all its hopes, but it sure made a difference in the size of families. In my experience, it seems that everyone older than me has seven to ten siblings, and everyone younger comes from a family of two or three children (with some exceptions of course). If a person my age is the youngest of the family, he or she often has many older siblings. If a person my age is the oldest, he or she usually only has one or two younger siblings. The Pill gave women the power to decide how many children they birthed.

"The proper course of courtship was to go steady, become lavaliered, pinned, then engaged."

I didn't know that they gave PhDs in 50s television. Did she do her dissertation on The Donna Reed Show?

I know for a fact that The Pill is the main reason my mom felt that she could attain a doctorate in economics and not be tied down as soon as she was out of high school. I was born a few years after she got her Masters degree, after she met my dad (her student, actually :P). She was 29 years old by then.
Her PhD was finished by the time I was 7 years old, but if the pill hadn't held off my birth and then my brother's birth, she said that it never would have happened.

That's awesome Meg! Cheers to your Mom on mother's day!

I had to look up lavaliered. It sounded extremely unpleasant!

The pill has uses for things other than preventing pregnancy. Like preventing horrible giant cysts, managing heavy bleeding and cramps and lots of other things. Preventing pregnancy is just its original and main use.

Uh, some of those ''smaller'' families are probably due to something called abortion as well as the pill.

The pill is a good way to control when you get pregnant. Can't say it's been great for girls and women as a lifestyle choice, though.

Pretty much means, now, that girls start having sex at an incredibly young age and have sex with an outrageous number of men by the time they decide to settle down.

Can't see how having more lovers than you can count on one hand (or two) is a good thing.

In any day and age.

Lulu I think lots of boys pityfully will testify that lots of girls still not have had "outrageous number(s) of men by the time they decide to settle down" like you put it.

I think the pill will have had (a lot of) influence, but also a lot in other areas than strictly the pregnancy control- Lots of females I know use the pill as a way to control, manage and time their period and the moodswings and bellyhurts that accompany that. They still not go all-out in sexual activity, but they use it to just have easier lives as it comes to being able to participate in activities that otherwise would be hindered by their monthly inconveniences. So in that respect I do see that the pill can be great as a lifestyle choice.

lulu: Kids aren't having sex younger:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27well.html

Also, what's wrong with having lots of sexual partners? You're not instantly given a sexually transmitted infection or an unwanted pregnancy after you've had a certain number of partners. As long as people practice safe sex, it doesn't matter how many partners someone has had.

Sex is a complicated issue with many ins and outs.

@Kalel

The more the better!