Instagram users slammed NatGeo after the outlet shared a pro-birth control post Thursday.
The scientific publications completely undermined its reputation in an Instagram post shared Thursday that focused on why women should disrupt their hormonal cycles with birth control. The post offered three key points about birth control, all related to the potential health consequences, including weight gain, blood clots and impacts on our periods.
“All birth control pills can help make periods lighter and less painful, and lower your risk of ectopic pregnancy,” NatGeo wrote with sweeping ignorance. Thankfully, it turns out that women are a lot smarter than NatGeo gives us credit for. The replies to the post were brutally inspiring, and gave me hope for our species.
“Thanks for contributing to the gaslighting of millions of women who have suffered severe side effects from birth control… as if it wasn’t enough for our providers to indicate that reported side effects were all in our heads,” wrote one user who desperately needs a high five.
“That’s an unfollow … do your research before taxing that poison. Lived experience speaks volumes and has proven time and time again how dangerous birth control can be for our mental health. It’s a no from me Nat Geo,” said another, who also needs a high five.
I highly recommend reading through the comments. They’ll totally reinstate your faith in humanity.
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Actress Stephanie Corneliussen even jumped in, asking “why [the f*ck] NatGeo is giving (inaccurate) medical advice and promoting contraception for women?!?” (RELATED: STUDY: Some Women’s Menstruation Changes After COVID-19 Vaccination)
Even the people who like birth control were perplexed by the almost-advertisement-like post. “Listen…I am all for birth control and think it’s been a wonderful tool in helping women reclaim autonomy and control over their lives – and I was on it for years,” wrote another. “BUT I do think doctors need to be more informed on the side effects it can cause. I had a plethora of symptoms I suspected it was causing and going off it has resolved almost all of them. Every time I went to a gyno and raised the possibility I was totally dismissed. Years of medical gaslighting. We have to do better with women’s health care.”
The FDA just approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, despite officials raising serious concerns about its safety and efficacy just weeks prior to the approval notice. (RELATED: ‘Not A Free County’: Woody Harrelson Blasts Hollywood For Pushing ‘Forced Vaccination’)
As a woman who was prescribed birth control as a teenager for bad skin, and dealt with a decade of horrific side effects such as almost weekly migraines, mood swings, depression, and more, the entire thing made me want to throw up in my mouth.
How can anyone working for NatGeo sleep at nigh? The only major up-side to the post was seeing so many women stand up for themselves against the medical establishment, despite our lived experience (which they always ignore).