Collection: All This Pain For So Little Pleasure
This piece confronts the often-silenced reality of hormonal contraception: its mental, physical, and emotional toll on those who take it. At its center is a hyper-feminine figure, styled in retro pin-up fashion—a deliberate nod to the commodification of female sexuality. In her hand, she holds a full pack of the contraceptive pill: a small object with disproportionate control over the body and mind.
The title, All This Pain for So Little Pleasure, is both personal and political. The contraceptive pill is associated with a wide range of side effects—over 30 have been documented—including mood swings, weight gain, acne, decreased libido, nausea, headaches, and more serious risks like blood clots, depression, anxiety, and bone loss. Yet these side effects are routinely dismissed or minimized—a reflection of a long history of medical systems ignoring or invalidating women’s pain.
Though prescribed since the 1960s, hormonal contraception still suffers from a lack of comprehensive research, especially regarding its impact on mental health. Women are often excluded from clinical trials due to “hormonal variability,” and female-specific outcomes remain under-studied. This underrepresentation in medical research is a form of structural violence, leaving many to suffer without proper understanding or support.
This work challenges that imbalance. While men can theoretically father hundreds of children in a year, women can usually carry only one pregnancy to term—yet the responsibility for preventing pregnancy still overwhelmingly falls on women. Investment in male contraceptives remains minimal. This piece questions the cultural expectation that women must endure pain and risk as the price of sexual freedom—an expectation rooted in outdated and unequal power dynamics.
Through screen printing in loud, unapologetic colors, this piece channels anger into protest. Blending pop art aesthetics with feminist critique, it transforms private struggles into public commentary—refusing to stay silent about what millions of women are expected and often told to quietly endure.
