As the joke goes, male birth control is ten years away– and it has been for decades.
Of course, that’s inaccurate. In fact, some estimates say that, if one counts the male condom, vasectomies, and withdrawal, a third of birth control is currently practiced by (cis) men. It’s not that people with penises don’t have birth control options, it’s that they don’t have satisfying birth control options.
People in long-term relationships often stop using condoms because they’re clean and at no risk for STIs. Vasectomies are permanent and thus an unsatisfying option for people who may want children someday. And while withdrawal is surprisingly effective– its perfect use rate is similar to that of condoms– perfect use requires a level of self-control that very few people are capable of on the brink of orgasm.
The funny thing is that even given that cis women have way more diverse options– from the pill to the shot, from an IUD to the female condom– cis men are clearly willing to do their share of birth control duties. I mean, they’re doing it. Right now. The whole fear of pharmaceutical companies that men won’t want to take birth control? It’s wrong. It’s clearly and evidently wrong.
I mean, think about all the potential demographics. The whole MRA spermjacking fear is overblown, I think: if you don’t trust your partner enough to trust that they’re telling the truth about birth control, you don’t trust them enough to not lie to you about having an STI, and so you should be wearing a condom anyway. But even then, birth control fails. Contraception for people with penises would make it easier for couples to double or even triple up on contraception, and make the chance of conception about as likely as a lottery win. Many people with vaginas can’t take hormonal contraception, which leaves them with a dubious choice between using condoms for the foreseeable future and sterilization. Hell, a couple could both go on hormonal contraception and see who has the least side effects, so cis women don’t have to put up with (say) the loss of their libido, spotting between periods, nausea, or any of the other crappy side effects the pill can cause.
So basically! Male birth control! Someone should get on that shit.
About ozyfrantz
The most likely one to work is this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_inhibition_of_sperm_under_guidance
And that’s awaiting trials in a fair number of places. I really hope they can make it work.
It’s far far easier to trick the female body into being pregnant and stop any further conception due to the naturally occuring system already there and artificial hormones. Stopping sperm production however whilst keeping testosterone production is much much harder. The closest I’ve seen to a birth control pill has the lil side effect of stopping testosterone production, requiring the male to get regular injections.
Why do people assume there aren’t scientists working on getting male contraceptives? A super spermicide is probably much easier than trying to stop sperm production whilst keeping testosterone production.
Spermjacking may be a rare occurance but it does happen. It’s a very real fear for some men. STI transmission would be higher but the thought of being forced into raising a kid is also very scary, especially since men have no abortion options. Women may never understand this fear, but possibly compare it to someone forcing you to become pregnant, imagine your bf pricking the condom, or inserting it in you as you are asleep. Or for super sci-fi, imagine a man stealing your egg, putting it into a human incubator and fertilizing it, then 9 months later hitting you up for child support, etc.
I’d say the far more common version is a woman lying about being on the pill and then getting pregnant with your child. A false sense of security (lets say difference between 98% and 0% protection against pregnancy) so the preventative measures this couple took are actually non-existant yet he is under the impression they are. The common theme is this is used by women to trap a man into a relationship, a selfish desire of her’s to have kids against his will, etc. No idea the rate that this happens…I’m hoping it is very very low.
It doesn’t have to happen often for a very real fear to occur, how often are people attacked by sharks? Yet many still fear being near them. Spermjacking fear isn’t limited to MRA’s either, but hey they’re an open target to attack…
Ozy, I refer you to read page 48 of the CDC National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2010 Summary Report.
Prevalence of Control of Reproductive or Sexual Health by an Intimate Partner
“Approximately 8.6% (or an estimated 10.3 million) of women in the United States reported ever having an intimate partner who tried to get them pregnant when they did not want to, or refused to use a condom, with 4.8% having had an intimate partner who tried to get them pregnant when they
did not want to, and 6.7% having had an intimate partner who refused to wear a condom (data not shown).
Approximately 10.4% (or an estimated 11.7 million) of men in the United States reported ever having an intimate partner who tried to get pregnant when they did not want to or tried to stop them from using birth control, with 8.7% having had an intimate partner who tried to get pregnant when they did not want to or tried to stop them from using birth control and 3.8% having had an intimate partner who refused to wear a condom (data not shown).”
So 1 in 11 men report a partner who tried to get pregnant when they did not want to, and you’re suggesting sperm jacking is an overblown fear? I guess the fear of rape women have in dark alleys at night is also an overblown fear? Both genders have a legitimate reason to fear someone actively getting pregnant/being impregnated without their consent.
‘imagine your bf pricking the condom or inserting it in you as you are asleep.’ – sabotaging a condom that you are going to have consensual sex with and having non-consensual unprotected sex are NOT the same thing. (I’m assuming ‘it’ means penis here unless you can come up with something else.) Look, I see what your overall point is, but don’t equate this to rape.
If the partner agreed to sex on the condition that birth control I think sabotaging those before having sex makes that sex qualify as rape by deception. I’ve also heard feminists describe men sabotaging birth control as rape, so it’s not just something Archy made up.
I meant sperm, turkey baster. Wasn’t a good choice with the sleep part but as long as people can understand the point. Just basically a way where someone believes they have contraceptives but one partner actively destroys that contraceptive, whether its a female lying about her pill usage, either gender pricking the condom, a male finding a way to switch her pill for sugarpills, etc. Using your reproductive material without your consent, but the sci-fi version would be the closest since pregnancy for the woman would be a different experience in reality.
“Spermjacking may be a rare occurance but it does happen. It’s a very real fear for some men… Women may never understand this fear”
Not only do many, if not most, of us understand it, some of us share a fear of having children! While I know some women do indeed pretend to be on the pill in order to conceive by stealth, others pretend to *not* be on it in order to avoid getting pregnant, Educating Rita-style. Both things are wrong of course and the answer is less deception and more communication- overall people need the courage to do what is right and to avoid doing these cowardly things instead.
It’s a worry for us womenz too- at 30 I was concerned (alright, terrified) that any man around my age would put pressure on me to have children. I was very lucky to fall in love with a man who doesn’t want them either, and was just as responsible and cautious as me in our attempts to avoid having them.
Condoms and the implant for us it is then, but there lies another problem- the NHS market long-acting forms of contaception, including the Nexplanon implant, as “contraception that takes care of itself”. Sadly the Nexplanon is a long way off being this by causing a lot of side effects (which in my case need to be managed by taking the pill, so we’re going triple-Dutch here) and not being suitable for everyone.
Despite all of this, developments for contraception aimed at women are still far ahead of those aimed at men and reading the comments here I think I have an idea why- the tenacity of the ideas that contraception is a woman’s job and a woman’s responsibility, and that men are too stupid and irresponsible to avoid taking it. I wouldn’t be surprised if these ideas have hampered research efforts, and efforts towards achieving sexual equality have finally given researchers the green light. It’s just a shame this didn’t happen a few decades earlier, but better late than never, and I hope we do see a practical form of long-acting, reversible contraception for men in my lifetime.
“Despite all of this, developments for contraception aimed at women are still far ahead of those aimed at men and reading the comments here I think I have an idea why- the tenacity of the ideas that contraception is a woman’s job and a woman’s responsibility, and that men are too stupid and irresponsible to avoid taking it.”
Ugh, doesn’t anyone think that maybe it’s because it’s far easier to use an existing body process than to make a new one up? In women, pregnancy naturally stops further conception and thus the body can be tricked into thinking it’s pregnant via hormones. There is no similar process in men, sperm continues to be made pretty much till they die.
Archy- yes, of course it’s largely due to women having a cycle of hormones which is relatively easy to interrupt, but as others had already made that point I thought I’d make a few different ones. This is because most coverage I see about the prospect of a male pill includes words to the effect of “…but would you trust a man to take it?” One method that was trialed was reported to cause bloodshot eyes as a side effect and the reporter felt the need to add “but this could be a good indicator that your man is actually taking it”. It’s misandristic of course because as we’ve seen here a lot of women also can’t be trusted to take the female pill, and even those who can may not manage to take it at the same time each day or may forget a dose altogether. That what makes the whole spermjacking issue so complex- there’s no medical way of distinguishing a spermjacking from a genuine accident, and the latter are extremely common.
All that said, I am surprised that while we now have the IUD for women, the development of a non-hormonal internal physical barrier method for men is still far behind. RISUG sounds promising, it could be revolutionary and I hope it is!
With up to 1 in 11 men reporting reproductive coersion, I’d say spermjacking is probably extremely common as well.
RISUG sounds good, I might get it if I can calm my anxiety down:P
Here are some male contraception practices you’ve probably never heard of, including one that is practically free: the hot water method. It’s not convenient but it’s more appropriate for more of the people in the world who are practicing birth control: people who don’t have much money and are in monogamous relationships in which STIs are not a concern; birth control is.
I’m surprised that one’s not better-known after warnings about the risk to fertility for men using laptops! Who knows, maybe some of the men reading this blog are practising birth control right now without even realising it.
I’m hopeful for RISUG now. It’s got an almost 100% success rate among human test subjects in India (over the course of 15 years) and I think it’s in animal testing in the States right now.
It doesn’t have to happen often for a very real fear to occur, how often are people attacked by sharks? Yet many still fear being near them. Spermjacking fear isn’t limited to MRA’s either, but hey they’re an open target to attack…
Of course it isn’t but when it comes to groups that are okay to attack….
RISUG for the win. I would get that procedure done immediately. Immediately after putting some jizz away for safe keeping that is. Just in case…
I hear women complain about the pill’s side effects all the time, and all the men’s birth control options I’ve read about have little to no side effects, and are usually more effective. Seriously, birth control for men is better for everyone, even the pharmaceutical companies who are only taking advantage of half the market for contraception.
I hear men complain about the side effects for men, ie, reduced sensitivity during sex. You know, male sexual pleasure matters too. It’s up to the couple to decide their best contraceptive needs.
I should have specified, I’m talking about all the methods that are currently in research, like the pill for men, testosterone gel, RISUG or heating your balls, although the last 2 won’t make much money for big pharmaceutical.
There really are people working on this – the Parsemus Foundation has already started re-testing RISUG (known as Vasalgel in the States) and is trying to rush it through to clinical trials in 2 years, based on the success in India. They have a whole page on their male contraceptive research (http://www.parsemusfoundation.org/Parsemus/New_male_contraceptives.html), INCLUDING novel ones that I don’t think most people have heard of, like the “Clean Sheets Pill.” Check them out, donate, whatever. They deserve our help. Let’s show them just how many men want their own birth control.
Oh social justice, I love you, I really do– but it’s starting to seriously bug the everloving shit out of me when you pretend that no one in the world has ever done anything for selfish, lazy, or malicious reasons… you know, unless they’re conservative or someone that is generally thought to Stand In The Way Of Progress according to Activism (TM).
Sorry; only slightly tangential.
“The whole MRA spermjacking fear is overblown, I think: if you don’t trust your partner enough to trust that they’re telling the truth about birth control, you don’t trust them enough to not lie to you about having an STI, and so you should be wearing a condom anyway.”
If that proves that spermjacking fear is overblown then by the same argument any fear of domestic abuse, or partner rape are also overblown: If you don’t trust your partner enough to that they won’t phyiscally or sexually abuse you then you don’t trust them enough to be in a relationship with them in the first place. Your argument is based on the assumption that no person will ever betray a partners trust.
However given that it is a betreyal of trust the male pill would not be an answer to those fears, since it requires that the victim takes steps to protect themselves before they even suspect they need to.
Sperm-jacking, as well as birth control sabotage (whatever you want to call deceptively trying to impregnate a female), are both real fears. Notice that Ozy says “MRA fear.” Read up on how sperm-jacking is framed in MRA discussions.
I’m sorry. I read “MRA fear of spermjacking” spermjacking being soley an MRA fear
Out of the men I have discussed male birth control to, most of them are scared of it. “Hell no, I’m not putting hormones in my body.” I was surprised to see so many men who actually thing it should be the woman’s responsibility and if it fails, it’s the woman’s fault.
“The whole MRA spermjacking fear is overblown, I think: if you don’t trust your partner enough to trust that they’re telling the truth about birth control, you don’t trust them enough to not lie to you about having an STI, and so you should be wearing a condom anyway. But even then, birth control fails. Contraception for people with penises would make it easier for couples to double or even triple up on contraception, and make the chance of conception about as likely as a lottery win. Many people with vaginas can’t take hormonal contraception, which leaves them with a dubious choice between using condoms for the foreseeable future and sterilization. ”
Ozy, you try really hard, you really do, but this whole paragraph is exhibit A on the pitfalls of women trying to write about men’s experience or even men’s bodies. It really is just full of fail.
Feckblog has a good answer on some of this http://feck-blog.blogspot.com/2012/08/spermjacking.html and he compile a whole list of things that would never occur to you if you were not a man.
“Hell, a couple could both go on hormonal contraception and see who has the least side effects, so cis women don’t have to put up with (say) the loss of their libido, spotting between periods, nausea, or any of the other crappy side effects the pill can cause.”
People don’t need to experiment like that, the effects of currently available male hormonal birth control are known – it depresses testerone production. That tells you about as much as you need to know about loss of libido. So what was that again about loss of libido and the poor, poor cis women?
Different people have different bodies, Gingko. I know girls who would rather go hungry than miss their pill; when I was on it, I bled for three months straight before I refused to take it again. Similarly, there are probably men who would appreciate hormonal contraception (especially if it has beneficial side effects the way the pill does) or at least not mind it, and men who would refuse to take it ever again.
Reproductive coercion is something people of all genders have to put up with. Women get the option, right now, of taking Depo-Provera or another long term contraceptive if they’re in an abusive relationship (and, yes, any relationship with reproductive coercion is abusive); men do not. That’s unfair, and male contraception would protect against that.
Can you explain how the fear is overblown? Is spermjacking itself overblown, or is there a certain kind of discussion from MRA’s of spermjacking that is overblown? Because up to 1 in 11 men facing reproductive coersion, sperm jacking, etc is a pretty scary situation that definitely fuels the fear.
I follow you on the difenret reations to hormonal treatments. A friend had horrible symptioms as she came inot puberty until she went on the pill. for others it’s the opposite. For others there’s a double-bind – they need it for symptoms, but it has bad side effects for them.
And I agree with you on the need for a male equivalent Depo-Provera. I’m just saying neither it or the actual male equivalent of the Pill exist, and the hormonal birth control that does exist for men basically eliminates the libido, unlike the Pill, for most people.
“Ozy, you try really hard, you really do, but this whole paragraph is exhibit A on the pitfalls of women trying to write about men’s experience or even men’s bodies. It really is just full of fail.”
No its exhibit A on why you shouldn’t call fears of rape overblown, and why you shouldn’t victim blame. There are plenty of men who will say the same thing as Ozy. It has nothing to do with Ozy being a woman. (Also Ozy=!woman last time I checked).
Since I didn’t call fears of rape anything, neither I nor you know what you are talking about.
If you had read the linked blogpost you would see that these are things a man thinks about, and probably only a man would have to think about. That was the failure I was addressing. Ozy=! man. That’s all i was saying.
Um. There *are* women, mostly in abusive relationships, who have to fear reproductive coercion: their partners may refuse to wear condoms or poke holes in them, flush the birth control down the toilet, etc. Kids are a great way of trapping someone in a terrible relationship, and lots of abusers know it.
No, I was referring to OZY calling fears of rape a.k.a. “spermjacking” overblown. Rape by fraud is a thing. My point is that Ozy’s screw up has nothing to do with her being a woman. Because a) Ozy=!woman and b) women are fully capable of having empathy and understanding other people’s situations.
Excellent post, Ozy!
Incidentally, my girlfriend has developed some quite unpleasant side-effects from her birth control, and we could really go for some male contraceptive options right about now (even aside from the fact that I would like to be on a male contraceptive anyway). It’s so goddamned frustrating. Oh well, back to condoms for now.
Also, Ozy, if you ever hear about humane trails for male contraceptives that are looking for test subjects, you should totally post about them here!
Err… that should be “human trails”. I seriously hope that the trails are all humane.
*sigh* And apparently my fingers really like to type “trails” instead of “trials”. I really need to proof read my comments before posting. I keep not doing it, though. So I will continue to suffer embarrassment for as long as I’m online.
For the record, vaginaed people who can’t use hormonal birth control can also use copper IUDs.
Trans men can still use them if they’re on HRT.