Hormonal Contraception as an Existential Threat

Johnson,Taylor

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Hormonal Contraception as an Existential Threat Public Deposited

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Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/sb397976f

Abstract

In this work, I will be exploring and connecting the research on the various individual and social ramifications of hormonal contraception (HC), to the existential implications that come with it.¹ Specifically, I will be focusing on the women that utilize HC to prevent pregnancy, since 85% of women use HC for this reason.² Firstly, I will give a brief overview of the history of hormonal contraceptives, and then lay out the psychological evidence demonstrating how the functions of HC impact almost every aspect of a woman's3 life. The research presented will consist mainly of the negative associations HC can have on mental well being, relationships, and livelihood. Many are under the impression that HC works only to prevent pregnancy and has minimal influence on other facets of a woman's life. However, it is precisely this narrative that brings me to conclude that HC is an epistemological injustice to women. Most women on HC are completely unaware of the extent to which HC can impact their lives. This epistemological blindness, I argue, has cascading effects on a woman's ability to existentially transcend. In opposition to this argument, the work of Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, will be utilized, but ultimately shown to be misguided. Pitting her academic colleague and lover against her, I will demonstrate how Jean-Paul Sarte’s power of negation provides women with the ability to reject the socially imposed immanence that the patriarchy so fervently pushes on to women. After reflecting on these concepts, I will ultimately argue that HC is inherently a tool of immanence, and therefore an existential threat to women.

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