Comment – the Male Pill?
Amongst the furore of the ‘shock horror’ headlines of women being able to obtain the pill from trained pharmacists without a GP’s prescription, little mention has been made with regard to recent reports of the ever closer breakthrough to developing a male contraceptive pill.
This one is possibly an urban myth, but let’s consider facts and issues. The factual science bit is that the female version alters the thickness of mucous in the cervix to prevent sperm entering the womb, the male one reduces his sperm count. Regardless of gender we’re talking about altering body chemistry. Issues? The first one – men wont take it at all. A Times article (A contraceptive for males? That’s a laugh. The Times 4- 12- 07 ) reports that a lot of men are concerned with their virility – the ability to be able to ‘do-the-do’ at all times, as and when required regardless of the outcome – hence the premise is that they won’t take it due to a perceived detrimental affect on their performance; possible outcomes? Do all men use a condom or rather want to use a condom? Would all heterosexually inclined men take a male pill? ‘STIs? Pregnancy? Nah, not me mate…’ Possibly, or possibly not – it all depends on the man, his relationship(s), and the circumstances. Ditto women?
The second issue is responsibility. Whilst some men (and women) may be deemed as reckless and feckless, that doesn’t mean that there are also a lot of responsible men out there who may be willing to take such a pill; after all women are expected to alter a chemical balance in their bodies, so why not men? It’s possible to argue that a woman has much more of a vested interest in preventing a pregnancy as she has to carry a child – but responsible fatherhood is also an issue for many men (another tangent to explore). The jury is still out on this one, and will remain so until a company markets an effective male contraceptive pill. In the meantime, the condom remains the only contraceptive for men. Use a condom? Some guys do, some guys unfortunately, don’t. Ditto a male pill? We’re all only human after all… An interesting conjecture would be why was a male pill not considered, developed, and marketed prior to the female contraceptive pill? Hegemonic masculinities? Have you got all day?…
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