If you’re one of the 10-plus million American women on the pill, you may be a little worried about what’s going to happen when Trump takes office later this month?as in, will your birth control still be covered by insurance" While we don’t have an answer or solution to that conundrum just yet, we do have good news on a related front: The pill doesn’t have a negative impact on your sex drive after all, according to a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Research on the pill’s effect on libido has been mixed and inconclusive, but when women who take it do have low sex drives (as nearly half of us do, some research suggests), it’s often attributed to the hormones in the oral contraceptive. The new study, which examined more than 900 people, busts that myth. MORE: Health Advice for Every Phase of Your Period
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The researchers explored how the pill affected women’s sex drives while single and in relationships, and found that the type of contraceptive used didn’t have a significant effect on libido. Instead, length and age of relationship was more likely to impact sex drive than hormonal or non-hormonal contraceptives.
“Sometimes women are looking for something to explain changes in their sexual desire, which is not fixed throughout their life,” says lead study author Kristen P. Mark, PhD, MPH. “The message that hormonal pills decrease desire is really prevalent. In my unde...