The contraception revolution

Modern oral contraceptives became possible when scientists found they could manufacture artificial hormones from plants. The hormone used in the first oral contraceptive pill was manufactured from a yam that grows in the jungles of Mexico. The oral contraceptive pill was released in Australia in 1961 and for a time doctors would only prescribe it for married women. By the mid 1970s however, the Pill had become the most widely used method of contraception in Australia, and Australian women were the highest users in the world.

The advent of the Pill finally brought the subject of contraception out into the open. Up until the 1960s, for example, the word 'contraception' had not been allowed on Australian radio. Modern contraceptives such as the Pill were the first highly reliable forms of contraception that were not used during the sex act itself.

They contributed to the sexual revolution of the 1960s which led to great social changes in many countries, including Australia. These changes in attitudes and lifestyles have affected marriage, the family and the participation of women in the workforce.

Mysteriously it was the very distance between the act of swallowing a pill and the freedom to enjoy sexual intercourse at will which was the Pill's main attraction. A progesterone pessary would never have conquered the world.
Germaine Greer, Australian feminist writer, Sex and destiny, 1984.

Oral contraceptive pill 'dial pack'. Lent by Prof Ian Fraser, University of Sydney.

A 'racetrack' pack of the pill, whose owner, a teenager in the 1960s, disguised it in a comb-case so her mother wouldn't find it.
Powerhouse Museum collection.

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