Australia hosts the world’s-first vasectomy-athon asking men to take a very personal action to save the planet, protect their families and do right by themselves.
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On October 18, 2013 men all over the world, who are ready to exit the gene pool, will dedicate their vasectomy to Planet Earth.
1,000 men in 25 countries will take the ultimate snip to show they care about the growing strain that population is placing on the planet’s resources, their families and themselves.
The world’s most prolific vasectomist, Dr Doug Stein will perform live vasectomies in front of an audience in Adelaide, at the Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) to launch the inaugural World Vasectomy Day event streamed live online. Renowned thinkers, academics and activists will surround the operating room as they debate the future of our planet.
World Vasectomy Day (WVD) is the creation of Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Jonathan Stack, who while setting out to tell his own story about getting a vasectomy, met legendary Florida-based vasectomist Dr Doug Stein and together, ended up making a film about population on the planet—The Vasectomist. But it didn’t stop there. The journey inspired them to create a movement to raise global awareness of: the dangers an ever-increasing population has on the planet’s finite resources; and vasectomy as a viable solution to prevent unintended pregnancies.
“We’re asking men who do not want more children to shoulder the burden of family planning, to fight for their family, their community, their country and our planet,” says Stack. “To be like Frodo in ‘The Lord of the Rings!’ By throwing our fertility into the fire, we’re protecting our women, our families and future generations.”
Australia has one of the highest uptake rates of vasectomy in the world and this trailblazing spirit led the producers to launch WVD in Australia to set the stage for the global conversation. Director of RiAus Paul Willis welcomed the partnership as a prime opportunity to host a world-class knowledge-sharing forum addressing critical science related issues within the context of a highly innovative and ambitious multiplatform public event.
“This event will take vasectomy out of the medical suite and into the homes of people who may never have considered vasectomy. It will be an important way of encouraging people to think about how their ecological footprint leaves its mark on the planet,” says Willis.
The live-streamed vasectomy-athon will feature Dr Stein performing vasectomies while fielding questions from both the live Adelaide audience and an international online audience. Simultaneously, a gathering of diverse thought leaders including population expert and author of The Population Bomb Professor Paul Ehrlich will weigh in on the social, political, cultural and ethical issues raised by the event and Dr Stein’s mission to save the planet, one vasectomy at a time …
“Can vasectomies really make a difference? Mine made a big difference in my life, and to this day I consider it the single most important contribution I have personally made to the wellbeing of future generations, “ says Ehrlich.
World Vasectomy Day is coproduced by Jonathan Stack’s New York-based Gabriel Films and Sydney-based Smith&Nasht—a media production company focused on social issue storytelling founded by Simon Nasht and Dick Smith.
For all media inquiries and interviews contact:
Ruth Cross – Producer
http://www.thevasectomist.net/
Connect with the project:
http://facebook.com/thevasectomist
http://youtube.com/thevasectomist
https://twitter.com/thevasectomist
You really chose an inopportune photograph to accompany this post. The post is about a campaign which exhorts people to sterilize themselves for the good of society and the planet. And you headline it with a picture of some lone white doctor surrounded by a crowd of Asian people.
What’s the point of using this particular picture? Is that actually Dr. Stein in the crowd? Or is the picture there as some kind of subtext to say “this is why we need sterilization!”
Asians do make up over half the world’s population. I would think that if you wanted to control population growth that would be were you would look. Part of me also wonders if you wouldn’t have to “sterilize” men at all. I don’t believe that circumcision is popular in Asian. It seems to be practiced mostly by believers in “the one true god”; Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Christianity is strong in Europe, Australia, and the Americans. Christianity and Islam is popular in Africa.
Maybe it doesn’t matter what part of the genitals you “cut off”.
Is there actually evidence that circumcision reduces birth rates or causes men to copulate less?
I think it would be the latter, which makes things a bit more interesting because feminism has always taught that society has taken extreme measures to control a woman’s sexuality when in fact it probably was male sexuality that was the target. When society tells women to cover up they are actually attempting to control male sexuality, which is assumed to be uncontrollable by the man. It would be interesting if the foundation for what modern day gender studies calls misogyny is really rooted in misandry.
Well, do you know of any statistical evidence to support the suggestion that circumcision reduces copulation and/or number of offspring?
So, asking men to sterelize themselves is to do right by the planet, the community and their families. Oh wait nevermind…. “We’re asking men who do not want more children to shoulder the burden of family planning, to fight for their family, their community, their country and our planet,” says Stack. “To be like Frodo in ‘The Lord of the Rings!’ By throwing our fertility into the fire, we’re protecting our women, our families and future generations.” More of the usual. “Men prove your worth by throwing yourselves on the sacrificial altar of progress!” Until things like “shouldering the burden… Read more »
I get a kind of instinctual response of repulsion to this, like I am witnessing the ailing of humanity.
Sick joke.
Somehow I don’t think international tubal ligation day would be perceived as such a positive thing. I’m also not sure “celebrating” it does not cross the line into attempting to bully, manipulate, and shame men into doing it. Like women, men should have a choice whether they procreate or not and like women, it should be a choice without stigma.
I just think of it as another version of ‘Male Disposability’.
Thank you for saying so.
So, if I understand this correctly, These men will be getting snipped in front of a live AND world wide audience? Wow! This mass sterilization movement could really take off! Imagine how you could reduce world wide poverty by having poor men sterilized, therefore reducing the poliferation of poor people. Or how you could reduce at least if not eliminate genetically passed diseases the same way.
Not sure if sarcastic, or genuinely excited about eugenics.
Just attempting to show how if you remove the ‘human’ elements (human rights, etc.) from the equation and look at the human population as ‘lab rats’ , it makes lots of sense. If human history has taught us anything, how long before some Despotic country leader (god knows there’s many out there) takes note of this as a way to ‘Improve’ his populace? (oh wait, that HAS happened before you know!) Beyond that though, is it really a ‘stretch’ to imagine a country so scared of population growth , so as to institute a single child policy for couples (oh… Read more »