It’s always interesting seeing which articles resonate most with our Natural Womanhood readers. One way we track which topics are of interest is via article clicks from our newsletter list (which you can subscribe to here!). Below are the articles Natural Womanhood subscribers were most eager to read in 2025. (NB: Click the titles below to read the full article!)

#1 “The individual and societal cost of Gynecology’s birth control fixation“

If you’ve ever left your doctor’s office frustrated with her refusal to take your health concerns seriously, coupled with her seeming obsession with getting you on birth control, you’re not alone. In fact, a 2024 study found that “Among people who had ever talked to a healthcare provider about contraception, over one in six participants (18.46%) reported experiencing coercion during their last contraceptive counseling, and over one in three (42.27%) reported it at some point in their lifetime.”

And while these frustrating experiences come with an individual cost (whether it’s emotional or physical), Gynecology’s decades-long obsession with the birth control pill has also come at huge (but under-acknowledged) societal costs as well. 

In this article, Kristen Curran pulls no punches in laying out the heavy price we all pay when doctors refuse to offer women the dignified, evidence-based, restorative care they need—and deserve. 

#2 “Clash and captivate: Saying ‘no’ to sex within marriage“

“Awesome wedding night sex is not your reward for waiting until you’re married to sleep together.”

I can’t remember exactly where (or from whom) I heard this advice, but I wish that it was something chaste young couples heard more often. Too many of us, including Mary Bruno (the author of this article), head into their wedding nights and brand-new marriages with this exact mentality. And the illusions are often quickly shattered when those wedding nights prove unexpectedly awkward—or worse, painful. I’ll never forget one friend’s heartbreaking admission: “I don’t get it. We waited. We did everything right. And it wasn’t fun. In fact, it hurt. I feel… cheated.”

All of this is not to say that the choice to remain abstinent until marriage is a bad one—in fact, we know that statistically, couples who have few (or no) sexual partners prior to marriage end up having happier, more stable marriages. But in a culture positively saturated with disordered views of sex, young couples need better, more honest advice about what healthy sexual intimacy in marriage looks like. And sometimes, that can even look like saying “no” to sex, as Mary Bruno explains. 

#3 “Natural Womanhood Book Review: The New Menopause“

When it comes to navigating perimenopause, many (most?) doctors are just as lost as their patients. But what happens when a doctor goes through the transition to menopause herself, and is finally confronted with the harsh reality of medicine’s lack of knowledge about a major health change that literally all women go through? 

In Dr. Mary Claire Haver’s case, you write a book about it. That, in a nutshell, was the impetus behind The New Menopause. And in this article, writer Sonia-Maria Syzmanski gives us her take as a perimenopausal woman on whether you should buy, borrow, or skip The New Menopause. 

#4 “Exploring the effects of surrogacy upon women and babies“

You might remember the furor that erupted this past summer over Chip and Joanna Gaines’s new show, Back to the Frontier, and their decision to feature a same-sex couple (Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs) and their twin sons. In a July interview with Queerty, Hanna and Riggs (who conceived their sons via surrogate in 2014) described their decision to participate in Back to the Frontier as being motivated by a desire to “normalize” “modern families” like theirs.

It’s true that more couples than ever before (whether heterosexual or homosexual) are turning to surrogacy to achieve their dreams of having a biological child. But is normalizing surrogacy a worthy goal? What do we know about the risks of gestational surrogacy to women and babies? In this article, we discuss what we know (and don’t know) about those risks. 

#5 “Hormonal contraceptive use doubles heart attack, stroke risk, data from 2 million women shows“

When the progestin-only birth control pill, Opill, was made over-the-counter by the FDA in July 2023, there was much fanfare and celebration by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other reproductive health organizations and societies. At the time, much was made of the fact that Opill would fulfill more teens’ and women’s “needs” for increased access to birth control, and that making an estrogen-free form of contraception over-the-counter made good sense. After all, without estrogen, there would be no increased cardiovascular risk… or so the story went. 

But a recent, massive-scale landmark study out of Sweden proved otherwise: ALL forms of hormonal birth control (save one!) were found to increase a woman’s risk of heart attack and/or stroke—progestin-only formulations included. To find out about the one form of hormonal birth control that did not show increased risk of heart attack or stroke (and to find out which form nearly tripled a woman’s risk for stroke and more than tripled her risk for heart attack), check this article.

P.s.: While a healthy young woman’s overall heart attack and stroke risk still remains low, even while on birth control (a fact which many publications have been quick to point out in the wake of this study, and which we, too, acknowledge) our article puts these numbers in the context of the estimated 248 million women worldwide who use hormonal contraception, and the estimated 9 million American women who take birth control pills each year. We also discuss these numbers in the light of the sad fact that many young American women are, in fact, unhealthy.

#6 “Natural Womanhood Book Review: A Sacred Beginning“

Here at Natural Womanhood, we’re generally big fans of anything that helps women see the beauty, power, and dignity of their bodies in a new light. Some women find that viewing the workings of their bodies (especially pregnancy) in light of their faith can be particularly empowering. But A Sacred Beginning: Nurturing Your Body, Mind, & Soul During Baby’s First Forty Days gives the Orthodox Christian perspective on what the time after pregnancy can also mean for women. 

In this article, Orthodox Christian writer Cathryn Barker gives us her review of A Sacred Beginning, including what the book may have to offer postpartum women from any background.