of websites, industry-sponsored blogs,
how-to books and TV advertisements,
“Encouraging healthy young girls and women to do
promising liberation from that messy
time of month. “Fewer periods. More
away with their periods for the sake of convenience, without
possibilities,” cheers one Seasonale ad.
But, amidst the celebratory media
educating them about the health benefits
blitz has come outrage: from physi-
of a normal menstrual cycle, as well as the risks of
cians, who fear we may be putting
women in danger; government regula-
menstrual suppression, is irresponsible and unethical.”
tors, who say the ads go too far; and
feminists, who wonder what message
— Susan Rako, M.D.
we are sending our daughters.
“It’s a horrifying prospect,” states
Susan Rako, a Boston psychiatrist and
But, under pressure from religious
an industry, propelled by a marketing
author of The Blessings of the Curse:
groups, who thought not having
machine.
No More Periods? “Encouraging
periods seemed unnatural, the pill’s
That worries Christine Hitchcock,
healthy young girls and women to do
creators added a week of placebos,
Ph.D., a researcher with the Centre
away with their periods for the sake of
and the monthly, “withdrawal bleed”
for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation
convenience, without educating them
was born.
Research, in British Columbia: “We just
about the health benefits of a normal
“The thinking was that women
don’t know what the long-term risks
menstrual cycle, as well as the risks of
would find this more acceptable, that
are,” she says.
menstrual suppression, is irresponsible
they would feel like they were having
and unethical.”
their normal period,” says Susan Ernst,
Evaluating the Risk
a medical doctor and chief of gynecol-
20th Century Roots
Data from the Women’s Health Initia-
ogy services for the University Health
tive, a 15-year research project funded
The notion of using oral contraception Service at the University of Michigan.
by the National Institutes of Health, has
to keep menstruation at bay is nothing Ever since, doctors have quietly advised
shown repeatedly that oral contracep-
new. The first “pill” approved by the women with a looming honeymoon
tive use is linked to increased risk of
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or camping trip to simply toss out the
stroke, heart attacks and blood clots in
in 1957 was intended not as a means placebos and skip to day one in their
women. According to the NIH,
of preventing pregnancy, but as a next packet.
studies also have shown that women
remedy for severe menstrual disorders. In the past decade, as drug compa-
who take birth control pills are at
During initial trials, women took a nies have scrambled to repackage and
greater risk of breast cancer. A 2006
pill each day, suppressed ovulation thus, renew patents on old contracep-
review in the journal Adolescent
and menstruation, and for many, their tion, the once-hushed notion of ongo-
Medicine found that use of certain
period became a thing of the past. ing menstrual suppression has become
forms of oral and injectible contracep-

May 2009
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