Say happy 50th birthday to the Pill, born May 9 1960. The contrary story of contraceptives in tablet form is painted in the latest issue of Time. Interestingly, the Pill was the first medicine ever designed for people who are not sick. Its inventor was a conservative Catholic who was looking for a treatment for infertility and instead, found a guarantee for it. It was blamed for unleashing the sexual revolution amongst suddenly swinging singles, despite the fact that in the 1960’s women typically had to be married to get a prescription. The Pill has been accused of promoting many ‘social ills’ in its time, from promiscuity, to adultery, to the breakdown of the family. On the other hand, it has been credited with women’s lib so the Pill shouldn’t be grumpy on its big day.


Thanks to paula bjork for this story.


Image Credit:
Time magazine

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 6:58 pm and is filed under One to Ponder. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.