A woman can learn much from her mother and grandmother. But we learn the most, I think, from the first woman, Eve. From Eve we learn a woman’s identity and value, but also why we must be on guard against deception. Satan—who despises the humans upon whom Christ lavishes so much attention and love—had no good will for Eve or her life as God’s creation. Nor does he have good will for us, the daughters of Eve.
Satan, the world, and our own sinful nature constantly labor against us. They are faithful to nothing but themselves with no purpose other than enticing our bodies and souls away from all God declares us to be. Words like “equality” and “my body, my choice” get our attention but soon take us captive. The woman who believes that she is no different from a man is a woman “taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). Captive indeed is what we all are when we live as if God does not matter and “I matter most.”
Doubting God, we are more easily deceived. Fearing insignificance and loss of control of “my” life, we set ourselves in God’s place. Such doubts and fears are associated with The Pill.
In her book, Sweetening the Pill or How We Got Hooked on Hormonal Birth Control, Holly Grigg-Spall shares her personal story as well as the history and medical facts of The Pill taken by millions of healthy women who really know very little about how the drug works. “When the Pill was released, it was thought that women would not submit to taking a medication each day when they were not sick,” writes Grigg-Spall. “Now the Pill is making women sick.”
Grigg-Spall published her book in 2013. Today, she is working with filmmakers Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein to produce a documentary of her book. (You may preview the documentary at Sweetening the Pill or Kickstarter.
Grigg-Spall asks, “Who am I when I’m not on the Pill?” She recognized her own disintegrating mental health and physical problems while on the Pill. These included “regular urinary tract infections, sore and bleeding gums, hypoglycemic symptoms, hair loss, and muscle weakness to name just a few.” Going off the Pill, however, “. . . I became stable in both my thoughts and feelings. I felt stronger, more confident and far less fearful. I reconnected with the world. I had clarity of thinking that allowed me to engage again.” Perhaps a man might ask the question differently. “Who am I if I disregard the health and well-being of my wife?”
Sweetening the Pill is categorized as psychology. The author writes about “fertility awareness” and women’s health more than spiritual wellness. She is not hesitant, however, to document the Pill’s dark history. “. . . [S]ex hormones were discovered in the 1920s, but synthetic hormones were developed in Nazi Germany . . . Bayer Schering Corp—now Bayer—developed synthetic estrogen and experimented on Jewish prisoners in the hope of sterilizing them. They found that although women stopped menstruating they were not made permanently infertile. This became an important part of the process of developing the Pill.”
In 1951, Margaret Sanger persuaded endocrinologist Gregory Pincus to work on a birth control pill. The Pill was approved for contraceptive use in 1960, making it easier for women to re-define their identity, reject femininity and, in fact, reject their own bodies. The “female body” became “an object of and a source for fear and oppression.” Still in circulation today is the idea that the ovary and uterus make women inferior to men. The Pill, writes Grigg-Spall, “provided the opportunity to silence . . . rationalizations that had plagued women for so long. The Pill shut down the troublesome organs. Without these organs weakening their bodies and minds the argument for keeping them out of the workplace and the realm of men had shaky foundation. It became a necessary part of the progress of women’s liberation that women deny female biology.”
In 1969, feminist writer Clare Boothe Luce said, “Modern woman is at last free, as a man is free, to dispose of her own body, to earn a living…to try a successful career.” The Pill does, indeed, “dispose” of femaleness and this should make those who put their trust in God—who created male and female at different times, in different ways, and for different purposes—very uncomfortable. Grigg-Spall says there is more to consider. The Pill shuts down the reproductive systems of teenage girls “before they are fully developed,” manipulates their endocrine systems “as they go through volatile puberty,” and impacts their “developing libido and displaces [their] sexuality.”
Sweetening the Pill is a must read for mothers of daughters and every woman who has ever attended a Titus 2 Retreat, been tempted to believe that “equal” means being “the same,” struggled with the physical and spiritual consequences of hormonal contraceptives, or prayed, “Dear Lord, help me to value what You have wonderfully made.”
Learn about Titus 2-4Life here.
Linda Bartlett is the author of
The Failure of Sex Education In the Church:
Mistaken Identity, Compromised Purity
(Amazon) Our Identity Matters
Ezerwoman's Blog 
Lack of Self-Control = Unhappy Women
Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Identity, Life issues, Relationships, Vocation, tagged arrogance, children, common sense, Dennis Prager, depression, hope, hopelessness, Jesus Christ, mentoring, narcissism, parents, promise, self-control, self-indulgence, selfishness, The Washington Times, Titus 2, Titus 2 for Life, unhappiness, women's health on June 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »
New scientific research shows that if adults cultivate the practice of self-control — starting early — in children, a great many could be saved from addictions, poverty, and crime. Isn’t that just like scientific evidence? Always lagging behind but, when pure, testifying to God’s order of creation.
This ezerwoman is a better helper — of men, children, and society — when I practice self-control. Lest I forget (or resist), God consistently reminds me to be “self-controlled.” The books of 1 and 2 Timothy refer to the virtue of “self-control” at least four times. At least five times, the book of Titus instructs older men and women to practice and mentor “self-control.” There’s good reason. Self-control glorifies God. It can result in more hopeful consequences. It can even reduce depression
Self-control is the opposite of living our lives however we please. Doing whatever makes us “happy.” Insisting that our “needs” be met. Serving self over others. Perhaps this is what happens when times are good. We give ourselves license… for whatever, whenever. We have (in my American lifetime) “lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence” (James 5:5). For sure, it is what happens when women are encouraged to let their emotions rule.
But, encouraging girls and young women to let their emotions rule has not made them happy. It is widely reported, writes Dennis Prager, that women suffer depression at twice the rate of men. If the clinical assumptions are true, Prager suggests that we consider the following:
“Wise cultures have learned that happiness is attained only when we conquer our nature. This is true for male and female. With modern feminism, however, came a belief in the superiority of the female nature. The result? Society was urged to suppress both the negative and positive aspects of the male nature with little or no suppression of the female nature. Historically, societies and parents have always known it’s a good thing to teach boys to control two aspects of their male nature — their sexual desires and their predilection for violence. Decent men were taught from youth to touch a woman sexually only with her permission and to channel physical aggression into sports or into helping fight evil by joining the police force or military. Men who didn’t learn to control these aspects of male nature not only became bad men, but unhappy men.”
He continues, “Societies and parents also knew it was important to help girls control their natures — in particular, their predilection to be ruled by their emotions. Women who allowed their emotions to rule them not only became destructive (to members of their families first and foremost), they became unhappy women. But, while modern society continued to teach boys to control themselves, it stopped teaching girls to do so. Girls’ emotions and feelings were treated as inherently valuable. In fact, to repress a girl’s emotions or feelings was labeled ‘sexist’ and showed a ‘hatred of women.’ ” (Excerpted from “Wanted by women: A few good old-fashioned men” by Dennis Prager, The Washington Times, 6-30-08)
Hmmm. I’m reminded of the woman who showed up at an abortion clinic. Why? “He kissed me and I melted. I was filled with passion and couldn’t help myself. Now, I’m pregnant and must take control of my body.”
Lack of self control + unhappy woman = desperation and hopelessness. Ugh.
There is another choice. Mature men and women can be examples of self-control and mentor younger ones to do the same. There is promise in such practice: Hope for living out our lives in anticipation of Jesus’ return (Titus 2).
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