Birth Control Your Adventure

Contraception is a tricky thing to talk about - not because I’m a Muslim women - but because so many thing about contraception are hard to explain.

It’s hard to explain how they make you feel sometimes, it’s hard to talk about what happens when they go wrong, it’s hard to admit that sometime they don’t help, that the options we have aren’t good enough. It’s hard to be critical without being seen as someone who is against the rights of women to access and choose the contraception they want. I want women to have the right to contraception and I want women to have the right to explain why the current choices we have sometimes fall short. That we are often the ones who bear the brunt of the burden when it comes to the very real side effects of things like hormonal contraception. I also want women to know that they do have options and it’s a bit of a journey to figure out what works for you. And also what works for you one year, might not work for you the next year.

I think all these things explains why I love the short film by Sindha Agha. It gives a very real and very visual grounding to all these feelings. It acknowledges them and also documents her very painful and very personal journey with contraception. I don't want to say anything more than give it watch and let us know what you think of it!

Written & Directed by Sindha Agha DP & Editor - Matty Neikrug Instagram: @sindhas Website: https://sindhaagha.com Birth Control Your Own Adventure is "a sparklingly cutting film featuring a cast of sinister Icelandic sheep, clumsy endives and an OB-GYN who talks with the voice of a robot. Agha makes insightful and snark use of these tools to chronicle the epic saga of her struggle with the side effects of birth control medication...it's a dizzyingly inventive self-portrait of a person forced to choose between depression and physical pain." -The New York Times

Contraception - There are many, many options to choose from - if one doesn’t work for you, it’s okay, it happens, move on and find something else. Explore your options and go in knowing that you might have to switch your contraceptive a couple of times till you find the right one/combination. There is no need to stick with one which isn’t working or is making you unhappy. You may end up experiencing some side effects such as painful breasts, low moods, depression, anxiety, missed periods, long periods and pain amongst others. This does happen and if it happens to you, explore your options. Hormonal contraceptives are more likely to give you these side effects but some women are extremely happy with their hormonal contraceptives and find that they work perfectly for them. Nobody’s experiences are the same so ask around, see what people think, what they went through, what worked and didn’t work for them. Your experience will most probably fall within a range of positive and negative experiences. My top tip is to keep track of how your contraceptive affects you from day one. And also condoms are a great and very serious and very valid option.

As well as sharing some excerpts from the zine, we will be using this site to share projects, resources and also films that we think help. If there’s something you would like to see us share, drop us a message via our contact page.