Sarah Haskins in Target Women: Birth Control

the nuva ring ecard was the best part of a great satirical segment. great stuff.

its one of the most effective vaccines ever formulated and is next to useless after sexual contact has begun.

thats why they do it at 12

"You know, the HPV vaccine that big pharm is aiming towards 12 year girls. Making it seem like it's all empowering."
I think it's actually pretty DARN empowering to enable women to have sex without getting genital warts or cancer.

"Cervical cancer vaccine. Like those poor girls even know what a cervix is?!"
Twelve is actually kinda far along in the maturing process--the average male would have started masturbating around then, would he not?--and girls should DEFINITELY be familiar with their own anatomy by then. I mean, I know they AREN'T but that's not a good thing.

Also, your facts are misarranged.

"There are so many different forms and types of cervical cancer and this vaccine only (might) prevent a few."
There are many many many forms of HPV, and only a few of them cause cancer. Gardasil may not prevent all of the cancer-causing strains, but that's still an incredibly ignorant statement.
Seriously.
Akin to "there are so many different forms and types of death, and the smallpox vaccine only MIGHT prevent one of them!! No smallpox vaccine's gonna keep you from getting hit by a car!"

"Just tell the girls to keep their number of sex partners to a minimum and cancer can be detected from a PAP anyways."
HPV is pretty common among the sexually active so it's still a risk, and one that can be safely reduced via the vaccine.

Would you say that disease is a natural consequence of sex so women should be willing to catch a PREVENTABLE DISEASE every time they have sex? People who subscribe to such beliefs likely also believe (consciously or not) that women should be punished for being sexually active, even when we have the technology to prevent the negative consequences of sex.

Also, "keep your sex partners to a MINIMUM?" I.E., don't have sex if you can at all avoid it? Aha, go tell your closest dozen male friends to keep their sex partners to a minimum and check the reaction you get.

Not everyone has the money to get regular pap smears and because society hates talking about sexually active women*, many people also lack the education to know that pap smears can provide that service.
*for reference, see: the same darn video this comment is posted on!

"So leave the children alone. "
SCIENTIFIC FACT: everybody ages. People who are children become adults and adults 1) like sex and 2) hate genital warts and cancer, so anyone who really loved their daughter would get her vaccinated so that when she becomes an adult, as she will, she'll be able to enjoy sex with a VASTLY reduced chance of getting genital warts or HPV-induced cancer. Even people who think their daughter will have sex only after marriage (haha) should be aware that her husband could be carrying HPV.

whhaatt... what 12 year old girl doesn't know what a cervix is??!?
that's a bit old to not know your body parts. unless the girls aren't able to take sex ed class (wether it be the stupid state's fault, or "religion" lol),
that's what is really "bunk!"
but anyway, this video is great. love it

With all *due* respect, are you a doctor?
Having a period is not just an annoyance for some women, it's a serious medical concern. My doctor has me limit my periods to two a year, and it's not because I get some cramps and fell a little icky.
I have serious depression, thoughts of killing myself, vomiting, muscle and joint pain, exhaustion, severe migraines...and all of these symptoms are avoided by regulating my hormones with birth control.

If there was a better solution for controlling them, I believe my doctor would have advised it. And I'm sure big Pharma would stand to make a whole lot more money if I was taking a different medication for every symptom rather than one cheap little birth control pill.

But if you are a doctor and have some valid suggestions for dealing with these issues, I'd love to hear them. Trust me, I'd be thrilled if a hot bath, tylenol, and some good thoughts could cure my ills, but that's not always how it is.

Sorry to burst your bubble here but there are women who NEED to stop their period. I have endometriosis so bad that my options are a hysterectomy/oophorectomy or a course of a drug that stops my estrogen production followed by a birth control pill that stops my periods. I'm not saying that this video is wrong, it's funny as hell and right on for the vast majority of women. They market it like this because they are not making money on people like me, we're few and far between. They have to find a way to market it to women as a group, and this is the best they could come up with because they are idiots.

Could we go after the Glade commercials that are running right now, I hate those.

I agree. I had to have surgery in my early teens for endometriosis - severe inflammation and cramping in my uterus. I was so glad when these 4 periods a year tablets came out. Life is much more bearable now. I think that these women are the primary targets for pills promising fewer periods.

Okay, yeah, I'm taking Lybrel (no periods at all! Ever!!!) because mine makes me vomit with pain for no real reason. It's period control with me. But you know, that's not what birth control is FOR. It's for preventing babies!

People who have trouble with their periods go to gynecologists, who already know about birth control and other ways of helping with periods (and in case it's something other than the period, like ovarian cancer, which a friend of mine had, it's waaay smarter to see a gynecologist about the pain instead of self-prescribing fewer-period birth control.)

I can see the argument that not a lot of women realize that there are birth control options that involve less hassle and/or fewer periods, but I think the real reason that BC ads always focus on period control is because we, as a society, don't like to talk about sex. Especially when it's women having sex for fun.

There's a place for period-control-based BC ads but even those ought to mention somewhere that the pill can, you know, prevent babies. Especially since a lot of teens getting abstinence-only sex ed are being told that the pill's not very effective.

But mostly it's just weird framing, to advertise birth control without ever talking about babies or sex. It would be like advertising viagra as something to help with blood pressure-- that's true, but that's not what it's FOR.

eloriane made a very good post, but also, advertising can be condescending and dumb even when it's not actively malicious or anything... and this clip is still so fuuuuuunny :D

Ok, we all deserve to have our opinions and I respect yours, but truthfully sarah is right, women are lied to every day about how we need to be put on the pill to treat serious medical conditions such as ovarian cysts, PMDD, and other period related issues. There are alternative treatments other then the pill for these conditions, and other drugs, the only reason that doctors prescribe the pill is because they get kick backs from the drug companies to put women on the pill. The lobbyists from the drug companies have been keeping us in the dark about the pill by marketing it basically as just period control. By the way if your friends want to get off the pill and choose a healthier alternative to treat their problems, the could look in the yellow pages under abortion alternatives and find a good gynecologist that actually knows how to do more then just give girls the pill, or ask their doctors about alternatives. It is shameful how this is marketed to impressionable people that are solely seeking relief for other health problems, that would not even be treated by the pill, but the problem is just covered up by it