Men can help woman to share the burden of contraception in the steps toward the equal partnerships.
In nowadays, our markets have many types of contraceptives, such as birth control pills, cervical cap, contraceptive film, contraceptive foam, contraceptive implants, contraceptive sponge, contraceptive suppositories, diaphragm, and injection. However, almost all types of contraceptives are for women use only. Indeed, only one of the birth control methods is made for men, which is condom.
Contraception is always a problem for women, and numerous contraceptives for women were invented in the past decades. However, there are still no male contraceptive invented or in our markets except condom. Condom seems to be the most popular contraceptive in the public eyes, at least for me, condom is the only contraceptive I knew in my past years. And ironically, even condom is the most well-known contraceptive in recent years, but this birth control method is not the most popular used contraception. According to a contraceptive method choice survey in 2012, male condom users are only 15.3 percent, which 13.7 percent of them are at risk of unintended pregnancy. And the rest 84.7 percent of women all uses the female contraceptive, and the contraceptive pill won the first place, which is 25.9 percent.
A new type of contraceptive
As technology become more and more advanced, a new type of contraceptive has introduced in India. An Indian professor, named Sujoy Guha, a 76-years old biomedical engineer, spent 37 years in developing the new birth control method, which is the long-term use reversible male contraceptive shot. This new contraceptive is a polymer gel that contains melted chocolate to be injected into the sperm-carrying tubes in the scrotum, and he melted chocolate carries a positive charge that act as a buffer on negatively charged sperm. The melted chocolate would kill the sperm’s head and tail, which make them unproductive.
Why not in market?
This new type of male contraceptive was still hidden in India only, and could not get into our market. The reason was too much side effects.
This male contraceptive shot has been used in India for 14 years, and proved to be 99% successful, with 282 volunteers and no side-effects. In nowadays’ female contraceptives, just say the most popular used birth control pills, have side effects such as intermenstrual spotting, nausea, breast tenderness, headaches, weight gain or weight loss, mood changes, missed periods, or decreased libido, and the effectiveness of 91%. All female contraceptives in market have side effects, but all of them are still exist as legal goods in market with the most consumer needs. The male contraceptives have all the reasons to protect men’s health with the already exist side effects burdened on women every day. The other reason for resisting male contraceptive in market is no market place for male contraceptives with all the female contraceptives already existed. But wait, female contraceptives do have a large place in the market already; however, new female contraceptives are also keep pushing into the market too. So what’s the reason for not letting male contraceptives into the market?
Equal partnership?
With all the contraception burden placed on women, I started to question is the true equal partnership exists? Men and women are still treated differently, such as male contraceptives are reasoned with unhealthy drugs to be illegal in the market when the female contraceptives with numerous side effects existing in today’s market. The only male contraceptive in market, condom, is used only 15%, with male use to female use ratio roughly of 1 to 10. Although condom has no side effect, men are still not using the contraceptive. Men would think they would not get pregnant anyway, so they do not have any responsibility of contraception. However, when women become pregnant, men start to jump out and claim them as fathers of the infants.
The contraception should not be the burden only placed on women. Men should also share the responsibilities especially that the male contraception appears to be much effective than female’s do. If a women become pregnant, the child is the responsibility for both the male and the female, so the responsibility for the contraception should be for both men and women. Many people had said that there are so many side effects for male contraceptives so it should not be brought into the market, but indeed, female contraceptives in modern markets, do appears do have more side effects such as nausea or even much seriously side effects as blood clots. Women has burdened for the contraception so many years, and with such new technologies of male contraception, men could now stand out help and pick up their responsibility of contraception that they should do so long ago.