How feminist: Emergency contraception ad pits babies against shoes and lipstick

This ad for free emergency contraception comes to us from Great Britain’s National Health Service, and it caught the eye of Michael Davis, U.S. editor of the Catholic Herald, among others.

Who can walk past this ad without realizing that contraception-peddlers view babies as burdens, annoyances – obstacles to their ambition and self-gratification? pic.twitter.com/h8CPdfK8EW

— Michael Davis (@MichaelDavisCH) September 13, 2018

Yes … what sane woman would ever want a baby when she could be spending the money on shoes and makeup?

We get what they were going for, but Davis is absolutely right: the ad treats babies as obstacles to self-gratification; because, of course, mothers could never afford both shoes and a baby. Babies ruin everything that way.

Everything else aside, if I were to enumerate the very real sacrifices involved in childbearing, the first ten or twenty items on the list would have nothing to do with heels and lipstick.

— Bria Sandford (@blsandford) September 13, 2018

Or 500. My goodness, this is just crazy.

— Shannon Last (@shannon_last) September 13, 2018

But women love shoes. Who would trade shoes for a beautiful baby?

In a heartbeat! As would most women.

— Elizabeth Kantor (@ElizabethKantor) September 13, 2018

Yes. Yes I would.

But, as a mom of 3, I still wear lipstick and would wear heels if I was into that. I'm a mom; I'm not dead.

— Justine Chapman (@MakeSimelane) September 13, 2018

This is an ad that shows how contraception is actually for men who don’t want female bodies changed by child birth. Women must remain photoshopped, wearing high heels and lipstick.

— Derya Little (@DeryaLittle) September 13, 2018

Aren't you enjoying your empowerment, Derya?

— Michael Davis (@MichaelDavisCH) September 13, 2018

Oh, it’s real. There’s even a piece in today’s Daily Mail about a commuter blasting the ad for being sexist: “The fact that it went through so many people before being displayed is another thing that made me so mad. The person who designed it, signed it off, printed it and distributed it. Did nobody stop and think ‘are we really going ahead with this?'”

have you only just noticed this? ?

— Shapeshifter (@Roxiemusic2018) September 13, 2018

The poster? yes. The soulless culture the UK has become? Unfortunately not.

— Chris Tomlinson (@TomlinsonCJ) September 13, 2018

That why Europe is dying… because of the selfish nature of people..

— SymingtonAnimation (@AnimatedTRVL) September 13, 2018

I prefer a pair of house slippers, chapstick and a day with my four daughters.

— IQmatters (@IIIpercent1776) September 13, 2018

It’s a false dichotomy. You don’t have to give up one for the other. We have four kids and my wife is still smokin’ hot with or without lipstick/heels.

— Curt Morehouse ??? (@curtmorehouse) September 13, 2018

I happen to think creating/growing/sustaining/loving/raising a human is a f—ing superpower… Modern day feminists view it as a burden. Why are they so anti women having it all? https://t.co/vd2XJcmlCi

— Elisha (@ElishaKrauss) September 13, 2018

On the other hand …

What is wrong with that? Women who prefer Louboutins and lipstick to raising children *should not reproduce* — this is great.

— Marc J. Randazza (@marcorandazza) September 13, 2018

Related:

Katrina survivors working to ensure access to abortion in the face of climate change https://t.co/F2rcHEda8G

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 2, 2018