Title: In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women
Author: Laura Eldridge
ISBN: 978-1583229071
Paperback: 369 pages
Publisher: Seven Stories Press (June 1, 2010)
Category: women’s health
Review source: publisher
Rating: 5/5

A decade ago, I had an exploratory laparoscopy and asked my gynecologist if she would complete a tubal ligation as well. She insisted that I wait a few years to think it over. I’ve always known I do not want children. I’ve never heard a biological clock ticking. When I saw a 29-year-old guy interviewed on The Today Show because he had elected to get a vasectomy, I fumed. Are all women supposed to WANT to give birth or expected to desire children? What could possibly be the reason why I was denied tubal ligation at 29 yet a guy could get a vasectomy? Our sexist society.

I am such an adamant safe sex advocate that I carry my own condoms with me. Two years ago, another gynecologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital suggested that I consider getting an IUD inserted for birth control. I hadn’t heard much about IUDs and now I’m considering getting one. In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women by women’s health writer Laura Eldridge provided me with detailed and enlightening information about the IUD that I didn’t know. Eldridge covers the Pill, IUDs, Plan B [the morning after pill], HPV vaccinations and more. Women’s health– particularly women’s sexuality and contraception– is rarely addressed to the extent it should be.

Putting women in control of reproduction means addressing these social issues. Building reproductive freedom, including the ability to make contraceptive decisions, means working to give women—not the many cultural forces and people in positions of power around them—the ultimate right to make individual choices about pregnancy.

In Our Control doesn’t read like a scientific article but a wise and thoroughly researched expose on all aspects of contraception. Eldridge writes in a practical, often conversational format which should appeal to readers at all interest levels. This fascinating book presents women with the information they need to consider the appropriate contraception for their bodies. Every woman is different and every form of contraception isn’t the right one for every woman. Eldridge delves into the pros and cons, the history, and some future thoughts and goals of the medical community, the Big Pharmas and government agencies. In Our Control should be kept on one’s bookshelf for reference next to Our Bodies, Ourselves and FLOW.