Readers Remember

One event that definitely shaped the 20th century, particularly in the United States, was the availability of the birth control pill. For good or bad, the changes that have taken place have been phenomenal.

In 1964 when I was just 19 years old, my doctor prescribed “the pill” since I was soon to be married. I don’t remember news stories about the pill, and my doctor’s suggestion was the first time I had heard about it.

Instead of becoming pregnant within a year or so of my marriage, I was able to finish my education and delay six years until I was ready to have children and we had established a financial base to afford them.

Suddenly, women could get and hold jobs they never could get before. Many times companies would not hire young women. The thinking was that the women would leave and have children right away. The birth control pill, coupled with the civil rights movement, led to a massive women’s movement with enormous changes all over the world but more so in the United States.

With women’s greater earning power, they also did not have to stay in bad marriages. Unforeseen consequences were to show up soon, however, with children the victims of widespread divorce.

Also, this medical event probably spurred the sexual revolution since we could now control the main consequence of sexual activity. Sexually transmitted diseases were rampant, however, and I have often wondered if the sexually permissive climate did not contribute to the spread of AIDS.

I don’t really know how this event was covered in newspapers in the beginning. Did anyone really know what its effect would be?

LYNNE CAREY

Thousand Oaks