In this episode, I talk with Dr Kystale Littlejohn about her book, Just Get on the Pill.
Though it takes two people to make a pregnancy, prevention is seen almost entirely as a woman’s responsibility. Using extensive research, Dr Krystale breaks this down and examines how birth control is a fundamentally unbalanced and gendered responsibility that encroaches on reproductive and bodily autonomy.
Some topics of discussion include:
- Society’s ideas about gender, the phenomenon of ‘gendered compulsory birth control’ and the need to see pregnancy prevention as yet another form of domestic labor
- The importance of language, and the problem with words like male and female condoms, and also ‘stealthing’... which should really just be called sexual assault
- How poor women are blamed for causing unintended pregnancies instead of recognising that poverty is a reason people might label their pregnancies as undesired in the first place
- How gendering birth control alienates trans, intersex and gender nonconforming people
- What a more liberating approach to birth control looks like
And more!
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The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, Just Get on the Pill.
Transcription is available here
Buy the book: US | UK | Global
Mentioned in the episode:
- Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi
- Killing the Black Body - Dorothy Roberts
- Sexual Justice - Alexandra Brodsky
Where to find Dr Krystale Littlejohn: Website | Instagram | Twitter
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