It’s great in theory, but men will never use it. And women won’t expect them to. Because, largely, women still feel they should be the ones to go out of their way to take precautions so they don’t get pregnant. After all, it’s WOMEN who must bear the greatest burden of pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing. Men still, largely, get off scott free.
Meh, I think you’re selling men short. Women (rightly, in my opinion) are still probably going to be more comfortable if they are ALSO taking steps to prevent pregnancy, but I don’t think No Man Ever will use this option. I know my husband would, he can’t be the only man on earth that feels that way. The more options the better, I say.
There’s another really interesting male contraceptive in trials in India right now called RISUG (Risug?). It’s injectable and non-hormonal, which puts it a step above the hormonal options, in my mind, and apparently immediately reversible (or very nearly so). Whether this takes off, or a hormonal option, I figure it to be pretty much like a vasectomy, in regards to whether or not I’d trust a partner (and, hello, I’d likely insist on condoms anyway, unless it were my current, extremely well known partner, who would love for there to be better male contraception).
Sjofn, I think you’re right about women being more comfortable if they’re also taking steps to prevent pregnancy; I mean what if he forgets? It’s reassuring, for me personally, to know I’m doing something to keep myself from getting pregnant. But most guys don’t want to get their girlfriends pregnant (because… I mean yeah it sucks more for women, but if the guy is at all decent it kinda sucks fr him too). Also I bet in at least some couples that are doubling up re: birth control (pill+condoms), and doing it for extra pregnancy prevention reasons, not STD reasons, a lot of guys would be like, hey, sweet, no more condoms now that I couldn’t get her pregnant even if I tried. As far as the trust issue… well if you know someone well enough to not be using condoms with him, then chances are you know personally whether you could trust him with this. That said, the article doesn’t have any mention of possible risks/side effects, whereas the side effects (in the short term at least, which is something) of female birth control pills are already pretty known. I wouldn’t blame a guy for at least wanting to wait until more info is out there.
It seems like every few months for the past 10 years or so a story like this crops up. I think it’d be great for men to have this sort of thing as an option, but for some reason they never seem to progress beyond these initial trials.
…but most men will never use it… Just the opposite will happen…and most men (after some period of time passes and its potential becomes obvious to the slow-witted amongst them) will ALWAYS use it. Pure selfishness will drive this as it will basically allow men to have casual sex without the fear, risk that a woman will get pregnant and cut short the party. People don’t think very much who keep insisting this won’t make any significant changes to the world as we know it…
Pure selfishness will drive this as it will basically allow men to have casual sex without the fear, risk that a woman will get pregnant and cut short the party. Except for that whole STD thing, which tends to come into play when you’re having casual sex, by which I assume you mean being promiscuous.
I have mixed feelings — on the one hand, I want greater male accountability and participation in birth control. On the other, I worry about women entrusting their own bodies to men on a whole new level. Think of how many women forget to take the Pill daily — and women are the ones who get pregnant! In long-term marriages/monogamous relationships, this might work in an atmosphere of radical trust. But I worry about a bunch of Don Juans out there flashing a box and coaxing women along with “Relax, sweetheart, I’m on the Pill.”
Eh, I’d still belt-and-suspender it even if I trusted that he was on the Pill and taking it properly. One more form of birth control can’t hurt.
I would also use back-up birth control, but it would be nice to know there’s a lot of protection going on. If that were going to be me and my partner’s primary form of BC, we would have to have been together for a long time. This will also help all those men (MRAs?) who think that all women are out to get their sperm and trap them into paying child support for 18 years.
As someone in a long-term committed relationship, I do not always want my partner to bear the burdens of birth control, and I really do hate condoms. I’m not jumping to get on this just yet, because of the afore-mentioned potential side effects and such that we don’t yet know about. I’m also not wild about either of us taking pills forever, as I have learned that there are many natural things that will work better than being on tons of drugs. But that, of course, is only if those things work. I share the suspicion that people here have for the Rhythm Method–yes, it’s great for women to know their cycle if they want to do that, but it’s not going to keep them from getting pregnant at all reliably. It’s really better for trying to get pregnant. So it will likely be some combination of pills and barriers (condoms, possibly diaphragm, etc) for us in the future, whereas right now it’s just BC, plus our naturally low fertility thrown in for fun.
I would anticipate some massive shifts in social consciousness with the advent of a male birth control, it would certainly lead to easier sex. But I also worry that some sincerely stupid people will stop using condoms.
One way men in India take part in contraception is by using a simple method for temporary sterilization: soaking in extremely hot water for as long as they can stand it. Contraception exists outside of the Western pharmaceutical industry. That said, I’d take a pill before boiling myself any day.
Men in India are extremely involved in the entire reproductive process. Overly involved actually, far more then men in the west are. Frankly, if they are any example of what we can expect when we allow this to happen, it bodes nothing good for women or children. It’s nobody’s business but women when we wish to bear children. Nature gave women the perogative in these areas. This is just another sick power grab by men to steal what are the natural rights of women. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they wind up damaging our fertility by injecting themselves with something and then passing it along to us.
Natural rights of women? So … I don’t have the right to choose when to have children, or with whom I will raise them? Screw that – I have the right to control my fertility just as much as you have the right to control yours. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they wind up damaging our fertility by injecting themselves with something and then passing it along to us. Do you have any understanding whatsoever of human biology?
Actually, nature didn’t so much give women the prerogative as leave both sexes without a whole lot of choice. And I completely don’t get why it would be in any woman’s interest not to have birth control pills for men. To me, it looks like a great opportunity for couples who don’t want kids to double up on birth control.
I just read the article to my husband who thought it was great. He’d use it faithfully and I’d trust him… just like he trusted me when I was on the pill. He knew if I forgot it, I’d let him know, and we’d use back up methods for awhile. I know he’d do the same thing. We’ve also been together for awhile. If I was in a casual relationship, I’d still insist on condoms for STD reasons, but the back up method of the pill would be really nice! I can hardly wait until this comes out… it would be nice to take a break from being the one responsible for birth control without having to worry about the suckiness of condoms.
Oh, and I have to diasgree about it being solely a woman’s perogorative. Sorry, if I want a child but my husband doesn’t, I am going to respect that and not voluntarily create a child I know he doesn’t want, just as I would expect him to respect my opinion if the situation were reversed. And in fact, I think it’s awesome that men can take more of an active role, it will lead to a decrease in unwanted pregnancies and less of “well, she wanted the stupid kid, not me”.
It’s nobody’s business but women when we wish to bear children. Yes, and it’s nobody’s business but men when they wish to father children. Sauce for the goose… Nature gave women the perogative in these areas. This is just another sick power grab by men to steal what are the natural rights of women. You’re barking mad. Controlling what comes out of your own body is abridging the rights of someone else? What the hell are you on?
My god, I would never trust my husband to use this product. I’d love to be able to go off depo, but given the situation I’m in (not-particularly-well-controlled, treatment-resistant inherited bipolar disorder that’s extremely stress- and sleep-deprivation-reactive), having a kid is the worst possible thing that could happen to me or our marriage. And DH does not appreciate this fact. He’s has a few lovely attitudes: a baby and a car are necessary to feel adult, you’ll be able to step up to the situation should a kid come along, and abortion is bad. Plus he’s a workaholic who comes from a family of workaholics where his mom did all the second-shift work. His cavalier attitude about having a kid would never allow me to trust him to be the partner primarily responsible for BC. It’s sad, though, since getting off the hormones might help my bipolar. Frankly, I have no idea how men have managed to trust women to take care of BC for so long. How could anyone put their fate in anothers’ hands that way? I dearly hope this product actually gets approved, because men deserve access to non-permanent birth control menthods as safe and certain as depo and the pill.
“Frankly I have no idea how men have managed women to trust women to take care of BC for so long.” Well if you think about it, it’s pretty obvious. One, they had no choice in the matter, as the male contribution to bringing forth new life is MINOR equivalent to a fart or a sneeze, nothing very special about it. Although men have portrayed it as similar, if not greater then womens’ role, in fact what they contribute to the whole event is minimal, at best… Some would call it nothing. Two, they had little to lose if things went wrong as historically men were not held responsible for any child born outside of a legal marriage. It’s only recently since the state has instituted child support guidelines for ALL children that they are suddenly interested in birth control for themselves. Even condums were invented by them to protect themselves from disease as they mindlessly went around Europe and Asia fornicating with prostitues, when they were supposedly spreading democracy, instead of VD. So let’s stop the nonsense about why men are suddenly interested in birth control. They’ve had plenty of time to come up with birth control methods for themselves if it was a priority for them. Clearly they weren’t interested until they suddenly started being held accountable for all those kids they were spawning and abandoning all over the place. It’s just one more way to encourage men to be MORE irresponsible then they already are, if that’s possible.
“Do you have any understanding whatsoever of human biology?” No. But I have an understanding of the selfishness of men and that’s all I need to see what direction this latest scheme of theirs will eventually lead us. Men are already irresponsible as regards women and children. We do NOT need to invent more tools to help them along the path they usually chose anyway.
If the health-security stats would convince me, I’d go for it because I somehow have the impressoin that hormonal OC screws more with women’s bodies than men’s.
It’s just one more way to encourage men to be MORE irresponsible then they already are, if that’s possible. Well, I for one, think that’s one of the most offensive comments I’ve ever read. So, simply because they are men, they are irresponsible jerks who just want to abandon their children? Did you even stop to consider that there are many, many wonderful men out there who take care of their children? I’ll be the first to agree, yeah there are some men out there who act like jerks and pass all responsibility for children they helped create to the mother, but they aren’t the majority. I fail to see how a man taking more responsibility during sex to prevent creating a child that they don’t want is irresponsible, in fact it could help lead to less abandoned children and a greater sense of responsibility for the man involved.