Reply to I follow Catholic teaching on contraception. Ask me anything.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Please explain how thos makes sense in a way other than men trying to control women's bodies.[/quote]

Quite the opposite.  This is empowering to women, while contraception results in men controlling women, body, heart, mind, and soul.

When sex is inextricably linked to the possibility of procreation, the full power of a woman is present.  Think of it this way:  if a man walks up to a woman in a bar and says, "I want to have sex with you," that is one thing.  If a man walks up to a woman in a bar and says, "I want to have a baby with you," that is something entirely different.  Because making love and possibly creating a new life is heavy.  It requires commitment, fidelity, vulnerability, trust, patience, courage, and mutual respect.  The woman is not an object to be used, but a whole person.

It is both the man and the woman who are required to control their bodies if they are not  ready for the possibility of a new life when the woman does not use artificial contraception.  Mutual communication and respect is essential.

Anyone who reads DCUM for any length of time sees the fallout of contraceptive sex:  disagreements about having another baby.  Resentment because one partner wanted a baby more than the other.  No sex drive.  Feeling used when TTC.

This is not a random rule, like driving on the right side of the road.  This is the essence, the real truth, of the meaning of sex.  If sex is disrespected, if its full meaning is not appreciated, then negative consequences follow.

So it is not about control, but about freedom.  Freedom is not about doing whatever you want, but about choosing to do what is right.
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In a perfect world, where men were always interested in raising the children who are the result of intercourse, you might have a point.

In the real world, where the female of the species must bear the physical, financial, and emotional toll of child bearing and rearing, whether the men choose to stick around or not, contraception DOES empower women.

Also, part of the problem with your interpretation above is that it assumes the men want the sex.  The woman merely decides whether to agree and bear him the resulting children.

I believe women are empowered by being able to choose when to have sex for recreation and when to have it for procreation.

As for disagreement s about whether to have another baby, I am reminded of a scence from Angela’s Ashes, where the Irish Catholic family had more children than they could feed, house, or clothe.  Many of the babies died.  Finally the wife says to the husband, “no more babies”.  Which meant “no more sex”.  And so he left.  In countries the world over, when it would be irresponsible to have more children to starve to death, you see how far women get with, “not tonight dear, I don’t want to have another baby”.  
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