More Progress on the Male Birth Control Pill
Background: I’ve long believed that a male birth control pill would be a great thing for men, and that women might not be as happy about it as they may claim. In my column Do women really want a male birth control pill? (Newsday, 4/11/05), I wrote:
“Women have long lamented the unequal burden they shoulder in the area of contraception. Today researchers are reportedly moving closer to perfecting a male contraceptive that is free of side effects, easy to take, and reversible. But do women really want a male birth control pill?
“Power is the reward which comes with responsibility. For example, during the Cold War Americans complained about the money and manpower spent protecting a reputedly ungrateful world from communism. Yet these sacrifices also helped give the United States great geopolitical power, with its attendant perks and privileges.
“Similarly, while women legitimately complain that biology has condemned them to bear the burden of contraception, this burden also gives women control over one of the most important parts of any human being’s life–reproduction. The male birth control pill will shift munch of that control from women to men. Is the following conversation far away?
“Woman #1: ‘My [husband, boyfriend, significant other] is selfish. He’s on the pill and won’t get off. I’ve asked him to stop taking it but he always says he’s not ready. He just won’t grow up. I don’t know what to do.’
“Woman #2: ‘That’s what the pill has given men–a right to be perpetual adolescents. It’s given them veto power over women who want to have children’…
To read the rest, click here.
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Stumble It!
December 17th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
The advent of the female birth control pill greatly aided women’s struggle for autonomy and fulfillment.
I don’t think that statement is accurate. For one thing, I don’t think women have ever really “struggled” for autonomy beyond the feminist movement itself which sought to undermine heterosexual relationships between men and women. On the contrary, women are as dependent upon men and the state for financial support for themselves and their children as 100 years ago.
About fulfillment, well, few women are willing to troll for sex the way men have done but it does give young “bar floozies” more latitude. But even so, the millions of bastard children produced due to contraception accidents belies that benefit. On the contrary: it’s the _failure_ of the pill that has produced massive social programs that bash men and give women latitude to abandon infants.
Since women’s and men’s sex desires differ, a male pill would have benefits greater in some ways (mostly) and bad in others. The pill is incredibly complicated to use. I’ve read the instructions on the packaging and I still, to this day, don’t fully understand them. The side effects of the hormone were so bad that my wife went off of them. If you’re ever had to figure out how to change the gas filter on a late model car, that’s _simple_ in comparison to this stuff.
The good news about a male pill is that, combined with a condom, would give men very good reassurances that contraceptive accidents wouldn’t occur and would make it that much more difficult for women trying to oops them. She’d have to sabotage _two_ seperate devices. It’s like having a car alarm _and_ LoJack!
I still think the holy grail of contraception for ALL TIME for BOTH GENDERS is RISUG. A convenient, reversable, temporary sterility injection for men that’s also confidential. Sheesh, that’s hitting it right out of the ballpark.
December 20th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
PolishKnight says, “The pill is incredibly complicated to use. I’ve read the instructions on the packaging and I still, to this day, don’t fully understand them.”
Really? Was it the counting out one pill, or being able to tell time to take it at the same time each day that was complicated?