It's the 50th Anniversary of the birth control pill. Happy Anniversary!!! Oral contraceptives survived puritanical objections in the 1960s to become women's first choice in protection. Yay! Woohoo! Yipee!
But wait--it's not all cake and champagne for the Pill. Recent reports say that the Pill may lower sex drive in women who use it. Doh!
That's right, a recent study out of Germany showed a relationship between
oral contraceptives and loss of libido. The study, published in the May 4th issue the Journal of Sexual Medicine, looked at more than 1,000 female medical students in Germany found that women who used hormonal methods of birth control--mostly oral contraceptives--had lower levels of sexual desire and arousal than women who used non-hormonal methods like condoms or no contraception at all.
Coming from a questionnaire assessing sexual function, the study does not show a causal relationship between using the Pill and lowered sex drive, it merely shows an association. Further studies will be needed to determine if the hormonal changes caused by the Pill actually
lead to decreased female sexual desire.
lead to decreased female sexual desire.
