Male Birth Control is Not Ready Yet to Dance With the Stars

There's a new form of male birth control which has shown to be highly effective in reducing production of sperm to nearly inconsequential levels.  It was not 100% in preventing pregnancy but the test results were extremely close.  However, the impact to the user was significant, at least to some, in terms of behavioral and emotional changes such as depression.  (Science Daily:  Male birth control shots prevent pregnancy)

For 'man think,' we want to know if it works and what does it cost.


Does it work:

Better birth control options are needed for men.  In 2012, 40 percent of all pregnancies worldwide were unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

"The study found it is possible to have a hormonal contraceptive for men that reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancies in the partners of men who use it," said one of the study's authors, Mario Philip Reyes Festin, MD, of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.  "Our findings confirmed the efficacy of this contraceptive method previously seen in small studies."

- Science Daily

OK, it works.  Read the article for the specifics on the test protocol.

(Wisecracking Femme:  most men will never do that!)

Right you are, WF, but you see I told them.

What does it cost:

Researchers stopped enrolling new participants in the study in 2011 due to the rate of adverse events, particularly depression and other mood disorders, reported by the participants.  The men reported side effects including injection site pain, muscle pain, increased libido and acne.  Twenty men dropped out of the study due to side effects.

Despite the adverse effects, more than 75 percent of participants reported being willing to use this method of contraception at the conclusion of the trial.

- Science Daily

Depression or mood disorder is seriously more than I want to 'spend' for birth control when a condom has zero cost in that way.  In modifying hormone levels, there are reactions in men just as with women so maybe lighten up a tad on any smirking which a woman experiences such things because it seems the science is bring that to you as well, Mucho Macho Muchacho.

In my own life, I went with vasectomy but that's not without afterthoughts since there's a measure of 'wtf did I just do to myself.'  Therefore if there's the slightest vacillation in you on the matter then don't do it.  In my case there was not because I knew we did not want kids.  Getting the vasectomy in the belief it can be reversed in the future has a thin possibility but do you really want to put what you may perceive as your legacy to that risk.

Summation:

Over-population and poor family planning are among the worst of the problems facing the planet and this addresses it but, here at the Rockhouse, we don't see this as being a strong candidate to resolve it.  As soon as a man perceives any discomfort or annoyance from the treatment, he will be gone.

(Wisecracking Female:  he's already gone.  He split as soon as he saw 'adverse events' in the cost!)

Man Think is a terrible thing, isn't it (larfs).

"The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is required reading for Ithaka and it has not been mentioned in, oh, twenty minutes or so which means it must be time.  The novel has a primary theme of birth control since the Moties will die if they do not procreate as soon as their bodies demand it of them.  While that's not true for humans, we often hear it dramatized as women living with their 'biological clocks' as if doom will come if they fail to produce.  Tip:  it won't.

The way Niven and Pournelle make that point led to a widely-heralded saga in sci fi and one which is likely a staple in many the sci fi aficionado's library.  If that were their only point, the novel might have made it only to Doctor Ruth's library but there are other novel aspects to Motie behavior.

Note:  I mean no disrespect of any kind to Dr Ruth Westheimer, a really charming lady who may seem the most unlikely choice to talk freely and knowledgeably about sex.  She has a delightful manner and hopefully she is still keeping people well informed about the joy of sex.