Hello Reader,
Welcome to my current rabbit hole. I had been doing pretty well, keeping my unhinged feminist conspiracy theories off the Internet, but in light of yesterday, things have changed.
Today’s topic of interest is vitamins. Particularly, prenatal vitamins. I’m thinking maybe I, as a young(ish?? what is young) woman should be taking them no matter what.
Let me explain my thought process.
Exhibit A
I was watching something earlier this week and a woman was saying how her entire life improved when she was taking prenatal vitamins. Her hair, skin, mood, sleep, diet, energy, and focus were all dramatically better. She took them long before she ever got pregnant (as recommended by doctors- women who could get pregnant should take prenatals to have the correct nutrients in their system) and long after. She eventually stopped because she was done having babies, but noticed the difference so she started up again.
This is not the first time I’ve heard about the benefits of pregnancy vitamins. I remember in high school it was a beauty hack to take prenatals for better hair and skin.
I think you could argue that perhaps it’s just the act of taking a vitamin and getting all the proper nutrients, except this brings me to exhibit B.
Exhibit B
How does a woman know what the proper nutrients are? Most healthcare recommendations are based on men, not women. All the research of the past was done on men.
Consider how they only fairly recently decided that women need more sleep and more vitamins than men. Or how BMI was developed for male bodies and isn’t accurate for women due to the different body compositions, yet many people still hold it as a standard.
There’s only one time that society seems to bother caring about women, doing the research ON WOMEN. When is that, you ask?
Exhibit C
Pregnancy! Babies! Spawn! Heirs! THINK OF THE CHILDREN, READER.
It seems society at large doesn’t really care about women’s health. At all. As evidenced by these election results. The ONLY time they seem to care about a woman’s body is when it’s carrying a child.
I remember my doctors telling me that as soon as I was sexually active, I should start taking a prenatal vitamin. Even if I had no desire for, or intention of, reproducing.
Why? Because the body needs it, to be sure that the baby has all the nutrients it needs to grow healthy and strong, and the mother probably doesn’t have that naturally. It was never worded as “because you will need the nutrients to stay strong,” it was always “because the baby needs the nutrients.” Ah, to be born to be a human incubator.
What about if the woman is just a woman? Does she still not have all the nutrients required to grow healthy and strong? Yes, she isn’t making a whole second human, but she is making one human. Herself. That human needs the correct building blocks, too. Circle back up to Exhibit B. How do we know if enough is enough?
Conspiracy Conclusion
So, Reader, that is why I, a woman with no desire to have a child (ever, given the current state of things) will now be taking a daily prenatal vitamin. Because I suspect my body, at my ripe-for-reproducing age, needs these nutrients and my quality of life may improve if I have them. If I feel like I’m dying, then I’ll stop. Consider me a test subject, Reader. Hopefully I will return to you in a few months as a changed woman. (For the better, Universe. Changed for the better. You hear me??? BETTER.)
As a little aside- I fear aging, but not because I will lose my value or whatever the men online are trying to say. I’m afraid of menopause. Many women don’t even seem to know that perimenopause exists, and so many men seem to have no idea what menopause does to the female body. Never mind how completely misinformed many medical professionals appear to be, the people who are supposed to guide you through it. I hope by the time my body gets there, improvements have been made.
Reader, if you are out of your potential child-bearing years, I have no idea what nutrients your body may need because I don’t think society knows. But the one thing I have heard other women talk about is HRT. If you’re miserable and don’t think vitamins are going to cut it, I would strongly advise you to look into HRT. And then report back to me, please, because we really need to have clear, widespread information about this stuff.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor (thank god) and I reserve the right to change my mind about anything I say. You read the “unhinged” part. Do your own research, ask your trusted professionals, etc, etc. <3