The unanticipated control of Birth Control

Birth control, also known as the pill, revolutionized sex in the 60's; but who knew it would now revolutionize how women select their mates. Alexandra Alvergne, lead author covering the birth control study, suggests that "the use of the pill...might induce women to mate with otherwise less-preferred partners, which might have important consequences for mate choice and reproductive outcomes." Ovulating women naturally are attracted to "masculine" men (chiseled jaw lines, muscular body) and men are naturally attracted to ovulating women. However, because women on the pill no longer ovulate normally, it has altered the way in which they select their mates. The study conjectures that women are choosing partners with weaker qualities, which might result to genetically disadvantaged babies.

The scientific advancement of the pill has allowed couples to engage in a more safe and responsible intimate relationships. But now, 40+ years later, ongoing studies have shown that the pill has a quite unsettling long-term side effect on how women mate and reproduce. Will the next generation, offsprings of the pill users, look uglier? Will they be physically weaker? What can we expect from the following generation? Additionally the article mentions briefly about how people are meeting and interacting with each other in a completely new realm: online dating sites. This phenomenon also adds to the changing mating patterns the pill has presented. I wonder, to what extent is new science/technology changing human social patterns improving human life? If it is not improving, then why?