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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