I was really surprised to learn that the birth control pill is the technological innovation that has had the greatest impact on institutions and cultural values over the past 100 years. For me it is hard to picture how different our society would be without a birth control pill, considering I have always lived in a world where it existed. Obviously, the pill prevents women from getting pregnant. But I never truly realized its other effects on our culture, like allowing more women the opportunity to have careers and giving men more time to spend with children. Over time, I believe that this has been a major contributing factor in making it a societal “norm” for women to attend college, have a career, and then have children later in life. I felt like the text described it in a really good way by saying “Before the advent of the pill, men’s and women’s roles were proscribed by reproductive responsibilities and roles.” Don’t get me wrong – I definitely hope to get married and have children some day, but I can’t image living in a culture today where a women’s entire life was centered around raising children.
Chase Moceri says
Skyler,
I agree that when I read birth control was invented over 100 years ago, I was quite surprised. Technological advances are created from people trying to find solutions in their daily lives. One day someone felt that there were too many babies being born and decided to try and help reduce your chances of getting pregnant. I think its c=interesting because maybe in their culture it was not right to have many children. I’m sure there are cultures who think birth control is preposterous to use. They may think why should I control how many kids I have. That’s what really sticks out to me. Looking back at China, they decided to just have a law where you can only have one child. Now they are suffering with issues of more males than females and it makes you think how that could potentially mess with culture for the next decade or so.