The other day I saw an ad pop up on Facebook for a homeopathic birth control pill. I snickered, felt a smidge of concern for the women who would fall for it and wind up pregnant and moved on. Then a few days later a friend of mine giggled during class and angled her laptop so that I could see it. The following image was displayed:
I laughed thinking, "Hooray, someone else gets how ridiculous the concept of homeopathy is!" But no. The image is making fun of the "real human fetus" aspect.
I've blogged about homeopathy before but just as a brief recap, here is what homeopathy is:
- Step 1: Take an ingredient that causes the symptoms you want to treat.
- Step 2: Dilute the fuck out of it.
- Step 3: Cured!
So as ridiculous as it sounds, within the context of how homeopathy is proposed to work, preventing a fetus by taking a pill made out of a fetus actually makes sense. The fact that it flies in the face of objective reality, however, is the problem.
People, the lulz here isn't that you're supposed to take a pill made out of dead babies. Okay... Yeah, maybe it is, a little bit. But the real lulz/headdesk point here is that people are going to take a homeopathic birth control pill. I could achieve the same effect by only taking the week four sugar pills in my own oral contraceptive pack. Seriously, the shit doesn't work. As evidenced even by the very claims on the package.
- "Up to 100% effective." You mean it could be anywhere from 0-100% effective? Remember to read carefully, boys and girls!
- "When used in conjunction with a condom." This is like those miracle diet pills that claim to cause you to lose 20 lbs in just four weeks when used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise. You'll actually lose weight because of your diet and activity level, but you'll attribute it to their product.
*ETA: Emerging evidence suggests that this is a Poe. While that's somewhat relieving, and hey, all bloggers fall for one eventually, I guarantee you homeopathic birth control exists somewhere. Actually, we know it does, only it goes under the pseudonym "pull and pray."
Things like this explain why there are more and more stupid people in the world
ReplyDeleteI saw this and I thought it was a Poe (albeit not religious.) Was I wrong?
ReplyDelete@Vern: I really, really hope you're not wrong.
ReplyDeleteMmm, real human fetus, not mock fetus like the people in poor countries get.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is a joke... a quick Google search finds no source but http://thecreationnews.com/
ReplyDelete(and on second exam of the picture, there's a "brought to you by thecreationnews.com" in small, light-colored, difficult to see type in lower right).
So I'm seconding a Poe.
@draggonlaady
ReplyDeleteWell that's good, at least. The withdraw method being listed should have tipped me off. Are there probably actual homeopathic birth control pills out there, though? It seems likely.
I think the bit about it being very important to avoid intercourse during ovulation was pretty leading... :)
ReplyDeleteHey lady, shush! I'm busy studying for midterms. I can't be expected to notice the blatantly obvious!
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm an SDNer who reads your blog, I just thought this would be right up your alley with the homeopathy...
ReplyDeletehttp://xkcd.com/971/