No longer a woman’s job?

It may be that within five years there is a male contraceptive pill/implant with no side effects! I was pretty sceptical when I read that as well but who knows, maybe it’s possible.

The active ingredient of this possible wonder-drug is adherin, which binds to sertoli cells in the testes, preventing the attachment of them to sperm and stopping sperm from maturing. It’s not a hormone so it won’t reduce men’s libido or make them behave like women and it seems that the scientists have achieved a site specific form of this chemical so that only the sertoli cells are targeted.

I think it’s a great idea. If two people are in a committed relationship where the man is more reliable or more concerned about not having children at a certain time then it can be his responsibility to use contraception. As long as there are no diseases involved then it’s good to not be dependent on condoms (don’t like ’em much). If this treatment is indeed an implant then it won’t rely on remembering to take pills, also a good thing.

There’s some discussion on the site that I linked to about absolving men of responsibility. That they’re free to sleep with anyone and pass on disease as they please. Seriously, those that are going to do that aren’t stopped by the possibility of making someone pregnant are they? In recent times I’ve read plenty of articles about people knowingly saying they don’t have HIV and that they’ve been tested and then having casual, unprotected sex when they indeed have HIV and have had for ten years. I doubt they stay in contact to find out if the woman got HIV, and in a similar way, men taking that approach to life probably wouldn’t keep in contact to find out if a woman got pregnant. For the majority of men, the ones that aren’t complete animals (I am of course assuming that most men aren’t animals, the ones I know aren’t), this treatment could mean more peace of mind.

This treatment sounds much better than the current female contraceptive pills that have many possible side effects (high blood pressure, blood clots and depression to name a few). It would also be very useful after having a baby because women can’t take the normal pill when they’re breast feeding. Men also wouldn’t have to put up with their wives being emotional nutcases if they’re on a less than ideal pill. For men, it also means that when you think you’re finished having children you don’t need have the snip.

There were also some comments on the site indicating that human fertility is being viewed as a disease or that we’ve become like animals because we’re trying to suppress the “physical manifestation of that love (between and man and a woman)”. We have lives, we have jobs, some of us don’t have jobs and are struggling to financially support just two people. Children are an expensive and time consuming exercise. An excellent exercise as well, I’m sure. I hope to have several but that doesn’t mean I want to start popping them out before I’ve finished uni and while I’m living in a two bedroom unit and either keep having them or be celibate. I think that’s absurd.

A safe male contraceptive sounds like an excellent idea to me. While they’re at it they should look to improve the female ones as well. :up: