Professor Jack Cohen use to all tell us off about this roundly, many 
many years ago.

The reason the stop-week was put in, was because male doctors felt that 
women would have psychological stress from not having periods, as it 
went against the 'womanly' sense of identity.  Therefore the stop week 
was put in, and set in stone, as a 'mental health' measure.

He'd tell us off, as he felt that as females, he felt we should know our 
own bodies, and how they worked, and not listen to male Drs telling us 
what to do with them.  He said we'd all sat in biology class, in school, 
and had drawn a 'gap' in our textbooks (vaginal passage) because the 
text books had such a gap.  Yet we sat at the desks, with our legs 
closed, and no 'gap' to be had - just a warm fold of flesh.  And didn't 
we think that was a bit daft?  We knew there was no gap, but we drew it 
and replicated it in exams?

And he highlighted the fact that coming off the pill for one week, 
greatly increased our chances of ill health, and that staying on it 
permanently, was by far the safest approach.

And I did march to my Dr, and demand to be allowed on the pill all the 
time.  And he refused, as it wasn't what he'd been told, and in fact, 
they do ration it to make sure you HAVE to have the gap.  Well, they did 
in the 80s, no idea if they still do.

*sigh*

I should have spent less time arguing science with Jack, and more time 
listening about female reproductive empowerment!!!  Perhaps I wouldn't 
have got as far as my 40s, without ever hearing about cervical fluid!

Morgan Gallagher

gonneke van veldhuizen wrote:
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> I know that my gyneacologist explained that there was never a medical reason to build in a stop-week with contraception pills, but that it seemed in the early days that women didn't want to loose their periods (feeling less feminin or somthing like that)>
> He explained that actually it was better not to stop and not to menstruate, because that would be a protecting factor for several female cancers.
>   

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