Question for women: Has birth control altered what kind of men you are attracted to?

[tropicalslavic]

I really, really don't want this thread to get weird... but I'm curious.

Also, I don't think birth control is bad, before anyone interprets this that way. I think it's necessary in the modern world. I am NOT debating the morality of birth control. If you don't like it, no one is forcing you to take it.

That being said, I've heard recently that it can alter what kind of men a woman is attracted to. Supposedly, it makes a woman more interested in "egalitarian" partners.

Personally, I haven't really seen a big difference. I've been on it twice in my life. I feel like my disinterest in romance and men is not related to birth control at all because I occasionally had crushes and desired men while on it, and very jaded BPD episodes where the last thing I wanted was the company of a man while not on it. Some of my friends swear up and down that they were attracted to men who were softer, more "feminine", etc. when they were on birth control. I don't really have a "type" so I can't vouch for that changing while on it.

It somewhat makes sense. The reason it even works is that it locks your body in the part of the menstrual cycle where you cannot have babies, by replicating the hormonal conditions that create that part of the cycle... the same part of the cycle where women are just not normally interested in men and sex and romance. And coincidentally this is also the "PMS" part of the cycle, which for some women causes mood swings, so perhaps this leads to relationship dissatisfaction and lack of interest in men as well.

What do the other women here think?

[Mortimer]

Im not a woman but I subscribe to read the answers

[CosmoLady]

I really, really don't want this thread to get weird... but I'm curious.

Also, I don't think birth control is bad, before anyone interprets this that way. I think it's necessary in the modern world. I am NOT debating the morality of birth control. If you don't like it, no one is forcing you to take it.

That being said, I've heard recently that it can alter what kind of men a woman is attracted to. Supposedly, it makes a woman more interested in "egalitarian" partners.

Personally, I haven't really seen a big difference. I've been on it twice in my life. I feel like my disinterest in romance and men is not related to birth control at all because I occasionally had crushes and desired men while on it, and very jaded BPD episodes where the last thing I wanted was the company of a man while not on it. Some of my friends swear up and down that they were attracted to men who were softer, more "feminine", etc. when they were on birth control. I don't really have a "type" so I can't vouch for that changing while on it.

It somewhat makes sense. The reason it even works is that it locks your body in the part of the menstrual cycle where you cannot have babies, by replicating the hormonal conditions that create that part of the cycle... the same part of the cycle where women are just not normally interested in men and sex and romance. And coincidentally this is also the "PMS" part of the cycle, which for some women causes mood swings, so perhaps this leads to relationship dissatisfaction and lack of interest in men as well.

What do the other women here think?

I have never used birth control so I cannot speak from personal experience.

But I have heard of women who fell in love and started a relationship while they were on the pill,
and then abruptly fell out of love, or fell in love with someone else, when they got off the pill.
As if they were suddenly, involuntarily disgusted with their man, for no apparent reason!

Supposedly women can sense/smell who is right for them, based on the immune factors secreted in sweat/pheromones.
She wants the man with the complementary scent who possesses the immune factors that she is lacking.
Hormonal birth control interferes with this ability, and supposedly also affects sex drive, mental health, and other things.

I think I heard of a study once where women smell the used shirts of several men and choose the scent they like best.
(without seeing the men).

And invariably they prefer the scent of men who possess the immune factors that they are personally lacking.
They do not all prefer the same scent.

Indeed I have seen girls (not on the pill) refuse to date pleasant attractive guys who are clearly interested, for no specific reason.
Maybe without birth control she can sense that there is something not quite right, at least for her,
maybe a smell that she doesn't like that no one else can sense.

Supposedly birth control makes women less inhibited not only because it removes consequences,
but because it removes the ability to sense subtle differences between men.
At the same time birth control can reduce libido by affecting the natural cycles.

Hope this helps, I read this a while go

[Scarface F]

Never used hormonal birth control, sorry.

[Laredo]

Im not a woman but I subscribe to read the answers

x2

[Vessna]

I’ve been on birth control since my early 20s. I had a hormonal IUD (my preferred method) and has taken oral contraceptives (Loestrin). I’ve been with the same partner for years and haven’t noticed any changes in my preference for type of males I find attractive. From a biochemical and physiological perspective I don’t see how taking exogenous estrogen can affect partner preference.

[CosmoLady]

I’ve been on birth control since my early 20s. I had a hormonal IUD (my preferred method) and has taken oral contraceptives (Loestrin). I’ve been with the same partner for years and haven’t noticed any changes in my preference for type of males I find attractive. From a biochemical and physiological perspective I don’t see how taking exogenous estrogen can affect partner preference.

You'll be surprised, google scent birth control attractiveness, too many articles to list

[Insuperable]

Women on birth control pills have smelly vaginas. No trolling here.

[Vessna]

Women on birth control pills have smelly vaginas. No trolling here.

Is your vagina smelly too?
No trolling

[Insuperable]

Is your vagina smelly too?
No trolling

Kinda defensive. You know it"s true because those pills are spermicides. Does your stink too much?