this holiday is weird, important, & awesome

With Thanksgiving soon approaching and Halloween (what feels like) long gone, celebrating a holiday about birth control might seem a little bit weird. It wouldn't be the first time NYLON has celebrated a weird holiday, though (re: National Cheeseburger Day, Aaron Samuels Day, and National Chocolate Day) so celebrating something that's actually important to women's rights feels totally awesome.

Today is Thanks Birth Control Day (or #THXBirthControl), the holiday that began last year to "start a new and positive conversation about birth control and all that it makes possible," says The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

For this year, The National Campaign's non-profit organization Bedsider.org, a free support network for birth control whose goal is to help women find the method of birth control that’s right for them and learn how to use it consistently and effectively, is celebrating with awesome postcards. Check them all out right here, and each one reminds women that, no matter their reason for using it, birth control effectively puts women in a position of power in their own lives. 

Along with the rad postcards, you can share your own reasons for loving your birth control (whether it's to prevent ridiculously painful cramps, or have the chance to choose when you do and don't want to have kids) by using #ThxBirthControl on social media. The reasons are as vast and as varied as the women who use birth control, because choosing to not have a baby is just as important as choosing to become a mother. You can see some of our favorites in the gallery.

So while celebrating the delicious cheeseburger is totally something we're into, celebrating the opportunity to "to plan, prevent, and space pregnancies while benefiting women, men, children, and society," is also definitely something we're down for—and with extra pickles.