The contraceptive pill usually contains hormones like progesterone and oestrogen. (Getty)
A woman has said that coming off the pill left her “disgusted” by men and turned here into a lesbian.
Amy Parker, from Adelaide, decided to stop taking hormonal birth control in February – also known as ‘the pill’ – after ending a seven-year relationship with her ex-boyfriend.
Parker didn’t want to date again for a while but in May, she thought it was time to return to the dating scene.
Unfortunately, the thought of meeting men filled her with “unease”, leading her to switch her dating app filters to ‘women-only’.
Parker says she underwent a “sexual awakening” as a result and could now “never go back to men”.
She now identifies as a lesbian.
“I didn’t feel the same way that I thought about dating men, that disgust and uneasy feeling. I felt intrigued and excited and like I was doing something a bit cheeky,” she told the Daily Mail.
Since changing her dating app preferences, Parker is now in a relationship with a woman named Bonnie. They have been dating for four months.
“Being in a relationship with a woman is not even comparable to being in a straight relationship,” she said.
“I felt like this is what intimacy on a sexual level should feel like. It was this awakening, eye-opening moment. It felt like I’d been missing out on this my entire life.
She believes spending 13 years on the pill masked her true sexual identity.
“I’d heard before that the Pill could influence your sexual attraction, but not to this level. I’m so glad I came off the Pill and discovered who I truly am and what my sexual preference is. This is me in my truest form. It’s very freeing,” Parker said.
She continued: “It’s frightening to think how much this has influenced potentially the last 13 years of my life. I’d always considered myself straight. I went on the contraceptive pill at 15 for my periods and stayed on it every day. My doctor told me I didn’t need to have a break so I never did.”
Parker said she thought her ex-boyfriend was “the one” and that they were “head-over-heels for each other”.
But the relationship didn’t work out because they “loved each other” but they “weren’t in love with each other”.
No scientific studies have suggested that the pill can cause changes in sexuality but there is anecdotal evidence that points to it being a possibility.
As the pill releases female hormones like oestrogen and progesterone, it is possible they could affect their thinking and their desires.
One study involving 2,000 women suggested that the pill could affect how women perceived attractiveness, and therefore could lead to a woman no longer finding an entire gender attractive anymore.
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