Still No Male Birth Control
August 7th 2008 10:48
Sex has been one of the most effective, long standing weapons against women. Because women bear the brunt of pregnancy and childbirth, and too often the child raising as well, holding sexual activity and the possibility of pregnancy over women makes for a good means of suppression. Even with the liberating effect that hormonal birth control has given women there is still the pressure that the weight of obtaining and using said birth control rests entirely on the woman's shoulders. It's this part that makes "pro-lifers" so giddy at the thought of reducing a woman's ability to obtain and use birth control.
You can almost be certain that sort of mindset was at least partially to blame for the nonexistence of male birth control. TIME has a great article discussing how close we were to having more sexual equality by giving men more options in preventing pregnancies as well.
As long as the risk of pregnancy lays on the shoulders of women alone then there is still a bargaining chip, something to hold against women to make a point. A subtle "Be careful or we'll take your birth control away" would be ruined if that same threat also applied to men as well. As many of the research companies were nearing breakthrough they were halted, and contraception continued to be a "women's issue".
Unfortunately it's not these men who are getting the Big Pharm companies taking notice, it's these men.
(Image Source - marcos bh)
You can almost be certain that sort of mindset was at least partially to blame for the nonexistence of male birth control. TIME has a great article discussing how close we were to having more sexual equality by giving men more options in preventing pregnancies as well.
If even a small percentage of sexually active men agreed to try a new method of birth control, that would amount to a colossal number of potential consumers. That's why Thompson doesn't believe the drug industry's hesitance to develop male hormonal birth control is merely about money. "The biggest hurdle that I've encountered in trying to share this information is a sort of knee-jerk reaction that men aren't interested in these kinds of contraceptives and that women won't trust them to take them," she says. "Neither of those assertions are supported by the data."
Indeed, many men say they are open to trying new forms of birth control. In a 2005 global survey conducted by Schering of 9,000 men ages 18 to 50, 55% expressed an interest in a "new male fertility control," and roughly 40% of the American respondents who said they would be interested in new male contraceptives further said they would be willing to use an implant or receive regular injections to control their fertility.
Unfortunately it's not these men who are getting the Big Pharm companies taking notice, it's these men.
Any man that would take a pill to stop sperm production should have his balls stripped off and be immediately classified as a full-blown eunuch (or gay). No sane woman wants a man who would take a male pill.
(Image Source - marcos bh)
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