I know, I said I wouldn't write about this for a while, but I think
many here would want to write to TIME about this:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1829107,00.html
(Specifically, you may want to say that men aren't really clamoring
for it as opposed to passively waiting to be surveyed, and that has to
change.)
Here's what I wrote elsewhere:
Funny, the article didn't say anything about:
1. NON-hormonal male contraceptives (barrier methods, essentially) -
maybe because even if all men wanted them, they wouldn't be nearly as
profitable to Big Pharma as pills would be, since you have to take
pills over and over. But surely men would prefer non-hormonal methods,
for health reasons?
And regarding this paragraph:
If even a small percentage of ***ually active men agreed to try a new
method of birth control, that would amount to a colossal number of
potential consumers. That's why Thompson doesn't believe the drug
industry's hesitance to develop male hormonal birth control is merely
about money. "The biggest hurdle that I've encountered in trying to
share this information is a sort of knee-jerk reaction that men aren't
interested in these kinds of contraceptives and that women won't trust
them to take them," she says. "Neither of those assertions are
sup****ted by the data."
2. The fact is, you just don't see men on TV or the mainstream radio
asking for ANY new male BC methods, something neither Thompson or the
article mentioned. As I've said before, consumers can't just sit back
passively and wait for the pollsters to come knocking; there has to be
a visible demand before there can be a supply. (OK, so men didn't have
to campaign openly for Viagra, but rules aren't always consistent.
Besides, as I wrote elsewhere, in case anyone haven't heard, there's a
huge, conservative-based, anti-contraception movement going on - to
find the article, search on "Russell Shorto" and "contraception" -
which means adult WOMEN may soon not have easy access to contraception
they WANT to use and that MEN want them to use. So it would hardly be
surprising if it turned out that they were heavily to blame for the
idea that men aren't interested - but those who would contradict that
idea still have to speak up more loudly.)
And finally, yes, of course men would be more worried about women who
lie about being on the Pill than about the real-life failure rate of
the Pill (6%). However, that doesn't mean anyone has to bring up the
painful subject of lying women in forums where it would be
diplomatically unwise. Given the economy, it shouldn't be too hard to
say convincingly "men need these methods and will use them because
they simply cannot afford more children right now and we all know
couples have to use two methods every time if they're serious about
prevention."
Personally, if I had a teenage son, I'd make him get a contraceptive
implant before I'd let him take Driver's Ed - and only after he had
spent a few years buying and using condoms so both he and his
girlfriend would be used to using them. That is, I probably wouldn't
let him take Driver's Ed until age 20 or so, since Dr. John Rosemond,
for one, thinks teens shouldn't be getting licenses just because out-
of-date laws written a century ago says they can.
BTW, it may interest you to know that staunch MRA Bernard Chapin told
me in an email he sees no need for better male BC because "condoms
work pretty well....it sounds to me like a solution in search of a
problem." For that reason, he said, he has no intention to write about
it in his column. What's strange is that he's written more than once
about a good male friend of his named Robert and the horrific, unfair
custody battle he was going through for his beloved son - and there
was an implication that the kid was an accident, so all of that could
have been prevented had Robert been using an implant, since you can't
forget to use that kind of method. At the very least, he would have
had to think carefully before getting the implant removed, whereas
it's too easy not to use pills or condoms.
Finally, to see another column and comments from this month at "Alas,
a Blog," search on "jesse taylor" and "male pill." (That blog is
usually very well-written, regardless of who's writing.)
Lenona.
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