Male Birth Control

[lavender]

 

[Rambling Rose]

You would trust a man to take his pill responsibly? After all, the weight of responsibility for child bearing still lies with the female.

 

[CarolineOh]

The lack of effort to invent a male birth control pill to supplement the female pill is simply another example of gender discrimination in society. A woman is not the only party who should act responsibly.

Why oh why do we not have more birth control options that men use?

Because who's going to trust them to use it?

 

[Ask For More]

How's that gonna work? No sperm? What would happen to all those people around the world that love facials and so on...

Could cause the end to porn as we know it
*shudder*

 

[kotori]

I've always wondered why if a cattle rancher only keeps one bull, and a sheep herder only keeps one ram, why . . .

oh shit, shut up, stupid!

 

[lavender]

 

[CarolineOh]

GMTA, Blushing Rose

 

[Rambling Rose]

But...but...but...that's what condoms are for! Or are STD's not an issue anymore?

{edited to add that I don't disagree with you, lavender...I'm just enjoying the debate}

 

[DustyWolfe]

To the best of my knowledge there is some sort of pill out there for this. It doesn't make sperm production stop, instead it blocks the sense of smell so to speak in the sperm and they loose their sense of direction. Therefore they never reach the fallopian tubes.

 

[Oliver Clozoff]

Learn ye your reproductive endocrinology before ye shout "sexism".

 

[Rambling Rose]

Spermatazoa can smell? Oh shit...that just cracks me up!

 

[Calamity Jane]

I would love to see more options for men. As it is, I can't take any form of hormonal birth control, can't use a diaphragm because i'm allergic to the spermicide, and can't use an IUD because I'm prone to PID... so it's condoms or something permanent for one of us.

I can think of very few times that a condom hasn't broken so that we had to stop and get another one... kinda ruins the mood... and permanent sterilization isn't something I'm ready for. I really hate condoms for other reasons too... they're not fun for either partner.

The number of women that are on hormonal control that have serious health issues with it, but remain on it because there really isn't a good alternative is appalling.

I'm going to try yet one more time to take the pill. Apparently, there is one that I haven't tried. I don't have great hope for it, but it's better than nothing.

I would LOVE for my husband to be able to pop a pill every morning and me not to have to keep my fingers crossed that i'm not pregnant everytime my period is a day or two late.

 

[SINthysist]

Men serious about birth control get the BIG V, the snip and tuck, the blocking of that big ol' sperm highway.

Everything else is just to keep her happy right now, when you want it...

 

[lavender]

 

[JazzManJim]

The lack of effort to invent a male birth control pill to supplement the female pill is simply another example of gender discrimination in society

Actually, I practice the best form of birth control. I'm celibate.

 

[Mischka]

But...but...but...that's what condoms are for! Or are STD's not an issue anymore?

Hopefully, STDs would not be an issue in a committed relationship. I would love to transfer the responsibility to Mr. Mischka for a while. Sigh...

Would you mind expanding on the reproductive endocrinology argument, Oliver? If they've come up with an effective array of pills and shots for women, why don't we have comparable methods available for the men?

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Ask For More]

It's a bit unfair to call us all forgetful isn't it? Bloody feminists

What were we talking about again?

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Ask For More]

I'm pretty sure I don't have a biological cycle...

Although I was talking to one of my collegues yesterday, and he was telling me about a friend of his(male) who has all the symptoms of a period once a month without fail; he gets really moody, won't go out and is generally pissed off and intolerant of anything.

Wierd eh?

 

[Nicole25]

Im totally for male birth control. I absolutly hate taking it. Kills the moods and makes me feel all out of wack. But on the other hand its far better than the consequences.

 

[Oliver Clozoff]

Would you mind expanding on the reproductive endocrinology argument, Oliver? If they've come up with an effective array of pills and shots for women, why don't we have comparable methods available for the men?

Actually, I think the problem is partly scientific and partly societal/economic. Gender politics aside (and I do acknowledge that they play a very significant role) the reason that we had female oral contraceptives long before male contraceptives is because uncovering the basics of natural female reproductive physiology led us to a rather easy solution for female contraception.

As soon as endocrinologists figured out the working of the menstrual cycle it became apparent that women already have a natural, safe, and obviously reversible (and this is key) hormone within their bodies that's unfavorable to ovulation, and fertilization, - progesterone.

Progesterone's physiologic purpose is to maintain pregnancy and in doing so it prevents subsequent ovulations. Because it was obvious that women were only fertile during certain phases of the menstrual cycle when the balance between progesterone and estrogen was correct, the answer for female contraception was a relative no-brainer - create a state of "pseudo-pregnancy" by giving exogenous hormones to throw the hormonal milieu of fertility out of whack and thereby prevent ovulation or implantation. And just as a woman regains her fertility after giving birth, so can a woman get her fertility back after stopping birth control pills.

Male reproductive physiology isn't cyclical there's no natural hormone that makes us infertile at any point after we gain fertility at puberty. Once we start making sperm we basically become non-stop sperm factories. It's very easy to kill off sperm production, but reversible sterility's more of a problem. There are some promising ways of doing it and potentially they could be on the market soon, but I think that in addition to the gender issues discussed already, there's the overriding economics. The financial liability in reproductive medicine is astronomical. As I'm sure you can imagine, the lost ability to reproduce is a litigator's goldmine. Women's oral contraceptives on the other hand are very safe (aside from all the minor side effects) and are also extremely effective. To women's detriment I suppose, it's the very safety and effectiveness of these medicines that's creating such a disincentive for research for male drug counterparts.

Most pharmaceutical companies aren't going to take on the liability for a potentially dangerous new drug when there are safe proven alternatives - unless there's sufficient societal pressure applied to demand a male birth control pill that will give them a financial incentive to go the trouble.

And I for one will not be on the front lines for that one.

 

[lavender]

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

But women are the ones that get pregnant they are the ones that should have to worry about birthcontrole.

j/k don't kill me.

My form of birthcontrole works 100%, I've never goten a girl pregnant, and I don't give a shit what anyone says, it IS a form a birthcontrole.

 

[Calamity Jane]

But women are the ones that get pregnant they are the ones that should have to worry about birthcontrole.

I know you said you were joking, Fly... but that's a pretty common attitude, and it sucks.