One of the things I have noticed about being a responsible family man is that all the fun has been taken out of contraception. Used to be contraception was a stimulating topic of intimate conversation with your loved one: a world of possibility and exciting potential, with its application ranging from absolute seamless subtlety to downright playful at times.
In any long-term relationship such as marriage, contraception eventually must be examined with a mind to considering how you will integrate the aspects of your sexuality, procreative objectives, intended life style and the possible health risks into a safe and useful control of fertility. If sterilization is not one of the desirable options to be considered then you are immediately faced with a glaring inequity. Contraception is seen overwhelmingly as a woman’s responsibility. It seems the medical community is willing to offer a staggering array of now mostly hormonal based contraceptive alternatives for Women. Men however are left with the two statistically least effective options: condoms, less than 80% in independent actual usage testing; or WITHDRAWL, OMG are they serious? An old Sanger Institute (Planned Parenthood to people born after 1970) study conducted over a 50-year period places withdrawal, also known as continence, at just over 46% effectiveness. I’m astounded that any reasonable adult would consider withdrawal a method of birth control. I would say it’s more of a playful gambling opportunity so long as you and your partner are ready to get pregnant anyway. You just keep playing the odds until that jack pot pays off in a lovely baby.
My wife and I really want to get away from hormonal contraception. Neither of us are ready yet to commit to permanent sterilization. I would very much like to shoulder the contraceptive burden. So where are all the male contraceptives we have been told to anticipate for the last 40 years? I can remember hearing about the development of the male birth control pill ever since I was a child. So where is it? It has been known for over 2000 years that hemp seeds can reduce male sperm production by as much as 50%. Hemp and other herbal compounds have been used for male contraception with some success for Millennia. So why hasn’t modern science been working on a naturally derived compound for men to induce temporary infertility? I would argue that there is no incentive to do so. It has always been easier for the male dominated medical science profession to focus and experiment on Women than on Men. Research for Men has been more interested in improving erectile function, for which we now have several pharmaceutical alternatives. Sort of the wrong direction, wouldn’t you think? What we have been working on in the arena of Male contraception seems almost tailor made as a stalling tactic rather than a genuinely determined effort to offer men an effective contraceptive alternative. Science seems determined to follow a course of less productive investigation concerned with poor yield results from such techniques as altering the lipid metabolism of sperm with calcium channel blockers such as Nifedipine. Or working on pharmaceuticals that will block ejaculation. Also, male contraception research is often too involved in unnecessarily complex procedural alternatives. Such as injection of the vas deference with compounds like Styrene Maleic Anhydride to induce temporary sterility, that can later be washed out to restore fertility.
If the humble African Yam can be used in the production of estrogen compounds for female contraceptive pills why cannot we also look to nature for male contraception from plants that are already known to significantly reduce sperm production in their natural form? You would think this would be a no brainer. I mean COME ON! Get on the stick guys! In 5 years tops we could have a safe and effective male pill from natural plant based compounds. I’m totally ready for that. Bring it on! We can’t just sit back and allow society to consider that pregnancy, contraception, and abortion are exclusively women’s issues or concerns. There is no human reproduction without representative involvement of both sexes. This is a human concern; in this we are undivided in the most literal sense. Don’t let political representatives off the hook for this one. It seems we need to take this issue directly to men and change a societal mind set. We must all accept our responsibility here. These are Human issues.
As for the male birth control pill, it’s clear that medical science has a nasty case of being the naughty boyfriend. You know the guy who claims he meant to get a pack of condoms when he was at Walgreens this afternoon, but conveniently forgot to do so.
“Really, I just forgot. I really meant to do it, honest. We’re still going to have sex, right?”
~ anonymous.
Dave
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