Elon Musk Has Linked Birth Control to Not Finding Henry Cavill Attractive
One conservative pundit thinks birth control breaks people’s sexuality, and Elon Musk apparently agrees. Responding to a X post by Evie Magazine about women’s sexual preferences, Turning Point USA alum Lauren Chen wrote “thinking Timothee Chalamet is more attractive than Henry Caville is what happens when you’ve been on birth control for 10 years.” After Elon Musk reposted her quote with a bullseye emoji, the internet decided to use him for target practice.
“Now Elon’s judging people by their looks,” responded one user, accompanied by a pre-hair plug picture of the Space X CEO. Another sarcastically took Musk’s statement for a coming out moment, writing, “so you agree you’re attracted to men?” One user took issue with the whole debate entirely, saying, “And this is what happens when culture wars take over an entire political party. Instead of solving real problems, they’re arguing about which actor women are allowed to find attractive.”
While the internet has been engaged in spirited Chalomette vs. Cavill for some time, conservative pundits using the discourse to further political agendas have unlocked a particular kind of ick. Whether or not they find Henry Cavill attractive, denizens of the internet largely agree that undermining public trust in well-researched sexual health practices is gross.
“Why do some men get so upset that different women find different men attractive?” writes one user, flabbergasted by Musk’s inability to understand beauty’s relationship to the eye of the beholder. “Why do some women get upset when people suggest going into a state of hormonally induced menopause for decades may cause some side effects?” writes another, whose profile picture is a close-up shot of his own trapezius muscle. “Why do some women get upset at gaslighting? Why do you think?” the first user shot back.
Musk and Chen Are Pushing Conservative Policy
Gaslighting is indeed at the heart Chen and Musk’s joint statement on women’s sexuality. Social media is rife with misinformation about birth control, one of the most prevalent of which is the idea that women on the pill tend to prefer men who are “less masculine” or have lower testosterone. According to board-certified ob-gyn Karen Tang, these myths came from small studies that claimed women who used birth control weren’t attracted to traditionally “manly” men, but these studies were not conducted by trained medical professionals in clinical settings, but by psychologists exploring hypothetical scenarios.
While Musk and Chen spread rhetoric of social media videos that claim the contrary, Tang stresses that these claims are rooted in misogyny and social control. “The implication in some of these videos is that birth control is going to take over your mind and make you pick the wrong person,” says Tang. Critics of birth control are essentially saying that a woman who takes agency over her body and her decision whether to get pregnant is incapable of making a healthy decision when choosing a partner. That idea is actively harmful to public views of women’s health and reproductive rights.
Musk and Chen are only providing more ammunition for a greater war on women’s rights. After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, conservatives have set their sights on birth control — the Trump administration froze $65 million in funding meant for clinics to provide free and low-cost contraception in 2025. His administration has also deleted public guidelines around birth control from the CDC’s website, as part of a larger conservative push to favor more “natural” forms of “family planning.”
Some women want a Timothee Chalomette, others prefer a Henry Cavill. But after this creepy hot take, it’s hard to see how any woman could want an Elon Musk.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
