I’m scared of taking birth control because I don’t want to lose attraction to my partner. I’m also scared it might make me straight

[jcfg]

I’m a 22 year old woman and I’ve been having heavy and painful periods for the past, I don’t know, approximately 7 years, I guess. The pain is so bad I can’t function. I can’t go to school or if I have a part time job, I can’t go to work. I’ve usually had pain only the first day of my period but the past 2 times I’ve had pain for 3 days. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or if it’s getting worse. Either way, birth control might be my only option. I have some health issues and I really don’t want to go on BC because of the side effects. But now I also found out that it messes with your hormones to the point that some women lose attraction to their partners after going off BC. I’ve been with my girlfriend for 3 years and I’m terrified that this would change how I feel about her. I love her so much and just the thought of this happening gives me anxiety. I also identify as a lesbian and I saw that some bisexual women didn’t feel attracted to women anymore when they were on BC and now I’m also terrified that it might make me straight? Can that happen? Can I lose attraction to my girlfriend and become straight? This is probably the most ridiculous Reddit post/question I’ve ever posted but I’m genuinely terrified.

 

[audock]

@jcfg Birth control can’t change your sexuality. Some people have a lower libido on it but that’s not the same as attraction

 

[aaronthestudent]

@jcfg Birth control does not control attraction and certainly can’t change your sexuality.

 

[kllluminati]

@jcfg It won’t make you straight. If it does the Republicans are going to be super mad they banned it.

 

[plainswalker995]

@jcfg I went on birthcontrol and im still bisexual so no, it will not change ur sexuality.

 

[mufudzi]

@jcfg No, this isn’t something you have to worry about!! The original studies on birth control and attraction were small and poorly done. They were a fine proof-of-concept for bigger/ better studies, and when they did bigger and better studies, they found that birth control did not impact attraction.

I think some of the stuff you’re seeing has more to do with psychology than birth control/ hormones. This is just a personal theory, but if someone goes in birth control and experiences side effects (such as lower libido) and their partner reacts poorly, they’d feel less attracted to their partner. The birth control didn’t actually change their attraction, it just revealed something unattractive about their partner. It does NOT change your sexuality either! Imo — and I’m saying this as a bisexual woman — the most it can do is make bisexual women feel more comfortable pursuing men because there’s less of a fear of pregnancy. It’s not changing anyone’s sexuality, it’s just alleviating an anxiety that may have kept them from pursuing people they were already interested in.

And that’s assuming the people you saw saying this stuff were telling the truth. Birth control misinformation is rampant online and myths about it “changing attraction” are very common. Some of it is spread by well-intentioned but ill-informed people, but a lot of it is spread by people with ill intent. Some of these bad actors are covert religious extremists who believe birth control is a sin, others (and probably the majority) are scammers trying to get people to quit birth control so they’ll buy their “hormone balancing” or “natural birth control” courses, supplements, meal plans, etc. instead.

Also, one last thing — while side effects can happen, they are not inevitable, nor are they permanent. Side effects can vary a lot from person to person, so another person’s bad experience shouldn’t scare you away from trying a medication that could help you. The only way to know how you personally will react is to try! Hopefully the first thing you try works perfectly with zero side effects (which is certainly possible — I’ve never had negative side effects on birth control!) but even if it doesn’t, you’d still have tons of other options that could work. Side effects also typically stop/ improve within the first 3 months.

 

[jcfg]

@mufudzi Thank you so much, this was really helpful

 

[david1965]

@jcfg I would avoid taking BC cause it may and will eventually lower your libido. It’s not worth it. Find some other way to help your period pain