Hi Inky --

I was in a women's liberation consciousness-raising group more than 30 years ago, when birth control pills were the "new new thing."

One theme that emerged by sharing our common experiences this way was that (male) gyns were telling us we were "nuts" and "whiners" and "making things up" when we reported depression and other ill effects from taking The Pill. I had thought that the dosages had been perfected since then -- but you are right -- hormonal medication is likely to affect us big-time.

It depressing to think that the same pharmacological hoodwinking of females is going on today as three decades ago.

An interesting thing I learned on NPR -- the diaphragm, a birth control method that has fallen into disuse -- also provides a shield against the transmission of STDs and AIDs. My sexual activity was at a time before "safe sex" had become a national obsession -- in fact, I think we were all pretty stoned and loaded and into "unsafe sex" in a fairly big way. Yet, I managed to avoid the scourges, even without condoms. When I heard that news report, I was very grateful that I "had" to find an alternate method of birth control, bec. it turned out my good little angel who protects me helped me find one that probably kept me safe at a time when condoms were not widely used.