Tessa Bona, from Melbourne, started taking the pill as a teenager and stayed on it for the next 15 years.
The 30-year-old said she had only ever dated men and had never been sexually attracted to the same sex, until breaking up with her long-term boyfriend last year and coming off the pill at about the same time.
She said “everything changed” within a matter of weeks and she “felt like an entirely different person” and was dating women.
Bona told news.com.au she now considers herself “a little bit bisexual, but much more attracted to women”.
“It’s actually hilarious. The sexual attraction to guys is pretty much all gone.”
She has been with her partner, Phoebe Chakar, for six months after being introduced by a mutual friend. Bona told the outlet it felt like “love at first sight” and she “couldn’t be happier”.
“It breaks my heart to think this might never have happened if I was still on the pill.”
She believed being on the contraceptive pill “can turn you into a dull person” and that “hormone levels can play a role in who we’re attracted to”.
The news.com.au article goes on to talk about a study indicating birth control pills could be influencing who women choose as their mates.
The outlet links to a separate article, published in Behavioural Scientist magazine, which shows the study does not discuss sexuality but changes in physical traits women find in their male partners when on or off the pill.
The magazine article itself highlights “this study wasn’t perfect” and “we can’t really know for certain whether the pill is responsible for the differences observed”.
Naturopath and women’s health specialist Katherine Maslen told news.com.au there could be a number of factors at play, including how the “pill affects mental health issues”.
“Now that this is lifted she [Bona] could feel more free to explore other things,” Maslen said, citing having many patients saying they “feel like a different person” after stopping taking hormonal contraceptives.