No more larking around! why we need male LARCs

Hastings Center Report

Volumn 41, Issue 5, 2011, Pages 22-26

  Campo Engelstein, Lisa ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONTRACEPTIVE AGENT; MALE CONTRACEPTIVE AGENT;

ARTICLE; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; CONDOM; DELAYED RELEASE FORMULATION; ECONOMICS; FEMALE; FEMALE CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICE; HUMAN; MALE; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; SEX DIFFERENCE; SEXUALITY;

ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; CONTRACEPTIVE AGENTS, FEMALE; CONTRACEPTIVE AGENTS, MALE; CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES, FEMALE; CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES, MALE; DELAYED-ACTION PREPARATIONS; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; SEX FACTORS; SEXUAL PARTNERS;

EID: 80052773347     PISSN: 00930334     EISSN: 1552146X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/j.1552-146X.2011.tb00137.x     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Due to space limitations, I will only focus on heterosexual couples in the United States using contraception to prevent pregnancy.
2. The two male contraceptives are male condom and vasectomy, and the eleven female contraceptives are female condom, tubal ligation, cervical cap, diaphragm, implant, injectable, IUD, patch, pill, ring, and sponge.
3. R.A. Hatcher et al., Contraceptive Technology (New York: Ardent Media, 2004), 245.
4. As this paper went to press, the Obama administration had just issued new standards requiring health insurance plans to cover all government-approved contraceptives for women without copayments or other charges as of August 2012. That the government has chosen to make such a move only reinforces my claim that contraception can be a financial burden for women.
5. L.M. Knudson, Reproductive Rights in a Global Context: South Africa, Uganda, Peru, Denmark, United States, Vietnam, Jordan (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 2006)
6. K.R. Culwell and J. Feinglass, ''The Association of Health Insurance with Use of Prescription Contraceptives,''Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 39, no. 4 (2007): 226-30.
7. Hatcher et al., Contraceptive Technology, 223.
8. S.J. Nass and J.F. Strauss, III, eds., New Frontiers in Contraceptive Research: A Blueprint for Action (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2004), 119
9. A.F. Glasier et al. ''Would Women Trust Their Partners to Use a Male Pill?''Human Reproduction 15, no. 3 (2000): 646-49.
10. Nass and Strauss, New Frontiers in Contraceptive Research, 125-26.
11. G.S. Grubb, ''Women's Perceptions of the Safety of the Pill: A Survey in Eight Developing Countries. Report of the Perception of the Pill Survey Group,''Journal of Biosocial Science 19, no. 3 (1987): 313-21
12. G. Larsson et al., ''A Longitudinal Study of Birth Control and Pregnancy Outcome among Women in a Swedish Population,''Contraception 56, no. 1 (1997): 9-16.
13. Hatcher et al., Contraceptive Technology.
14. Indeed, Nass and Strauss assert, ''Couples may use a particular method not because they like it especially but because it may be 'the best of a bad lot.'''
15. Nass and Strauss, New Frontiers in Contraceptive Research, 115-16.
16. Hatcher et al., Contraceptive Technology, foreword.
17. P.L. MacCorquodale, ''Gender Roles and Premarital Contraception,''Journal of Marriage and the Family 46, no. 1 (1984): 57-58.
18. Arguably, contraception can still be viewed as a shared responsibility by couples who have active discussions to determine what form of contraception they will use. And men may participate in contraception even when female methods are used by reminding their partners to take the pill, picking up the prescription, going to the doctor with them, etc. However, the fact remains that most contraceptives target women's bodies, so women are the ones experiencing any negative side effects, as well as the ones responsible for ensuring correct and consistent use.
19. A. Tone, ''Contraceptive Consumers: Gender and the Political Economy of Birth Control in the 1930s,''in Women and Health in America, ed. J.W. Leavitt (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1999), 309.
20. S.R. Edwards, ''The Role of Men in Contraceptive Decision-Making: Current Knowledge and Future Implications,''Family Planning Perspectives 26, no. 2 (1994): 77-82.
21. PBS, American Experience, ''Timeline: The Pill,''http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/timeline/index.html, accessed July 21, 2008.
22. N. Oudshoorn, The Male Pill: A Biography of a Technology in the Making (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2003), 27.
23. It is worth noting that Gregory Pincus, one of the inventors of the female pill, also included eight men in his first trial of the female pill to determine the contraceptive qualities of hormones.
24. Oudshoorn, The Male Pill, 70.
25. Ibid., 19.
26. S. Niemi, ''Andrology as a Specialty: Its Origin,''Journal of Andrology 8 (1987): 201-3.
27. Oudshoorn, The Male Pill, 26.
28. K. Yanoshik and J. Norsigian, ''Contraception, Control, and Choice: International Perspectives,''in Healing Technology: Feminist Perspectives, ed. K.S. Ratcliff (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press), 70.
29. R. Callaghan, ''Nip It in the Bud?''The West Australian, May 6, 2006
30. S. Dow, ''No Pill for Him Just Yet,''Sydney Morning Herald, September 29, 2005
31. S. Godson, ''Baby, This Is Crazy,''The Times, April 22, 2006
32. S.J. Segal, Under the Banyan Tree: A Population Scientist's Odyssey (Cambridge, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2003).
33. C. Djerassi, This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 77.
34. J.W. Knight and J.C. Callahan, Preventing Birth: Contemporary Methods and Related Moral Controversies (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1989), 308.
35. Segal, Under the Banyan Tree, 138.
36. Glasier et al., ''Would Women Trust their Partners to Use a Male Pill?''649.
37. F. Bourke, ''Boys May Be Offered Male Pill,''Sunday Mercury, May 7, 2006
38. J. Bradbury, ''Male Contraceptive Pill Would Be Acceptable to Men and Women,''Lancet 335 (2000): 727.
39. Glasier et al., ''Would Women Trust Their Partners to Use a Male Pill?''649.
40. G.C. Weston, M.L. Schlipalius, M.N. Bhuinneain, and B.J. Vollenhoven, ''Will Australian Men Use Male Hormonal Contraception? A Survey of a Postpartum Population,''Medical Journal of Australia 176 (2002): 208-210.
41. C.W. Martin et al., ''Potential Impact of Hormonal Male Contraception: Crosscultural Implications for Development of Novel Preparations,''Human Reproduction 15 (2000): 637-45.
42. R. Madeley and J. Finnigan, ''Rely on a Man to Take the Pill? Surely They Have Got to Be Joking,''The Express, December 2, 2006
43. C. Sarler, ''Why Should We Women Surrender to the Tyranny of a Male Pill?''Daily Mail, November 28, 2006.
44. J. Christman, ''Would He Even Take the Pill, If He Could?''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 7, 2006
45. H. Eyre, ''The Male Pill Could Change the Future: The Man Wants to Quit Taking the Damn Thing-He Thinks the Pill Is Making Him Fat,''The Independent, December 2, 2008.
46. Segal, Under the Banyan Tree, 130.
47. Glasier et al., ''Would Women Trust Their Partners to Use a Male Pill?''
48. Martin et al., ''Potential Impact of Hormonal Male Contraception''
49. Weston, Schlipalius, Bhuinneain, and Vollenhoven, ''Will Australian Men Use Male Hormonal Contraception?''
50. L. Scott, ''Contraception: Take it Like a Man,''Northern Echo, October 17, 2003.
51. However, it may be easier to trust men with the available contraceptive methods, since the use of condoms and withdrawal both take place in the presence of women and vasectomy is a permanent procedure.
52. In a 1999 paper, Oudshoorn compared news media coverage of the results of clinical trials on male hormonal contraceptives with the original press bulletins and research papers on these trials. She, too, found a discrepancy between the two sources, with the news media undermining the scientists' arguments about safety and trust.
53. N. Oudshoorn, ''On Masculinities, Technologies, and Pain: The Testing of Male Contraceptives in the Clinic and the Media,''Science, Technology, and Human Values 24, no. 2 (1999): 265-89.
54. Distinguishing between trust for individuals and trust for groups is too big a topic to tackle in this paper. See author's dissertation, which covers this topic in depth.
55. Glasier et al., ''Would Women Trust Their Partners to Use a Male Pill?''649.
56. F. Macrae, ''The Instant Male Pill: Scientists Reveal Contraceptive a Man Can Take Before Sex While Hours Later His Fertility Returns to Normal,''Daily Mail, November 27, 2006
57. Segal, Under the Banyan Tree, 114.
58. Although men cannot take on all of the responsibilities associated with pregnancy, they can be involved socially and financially.
59. Tubal ligation is very popular in many African and Asian countries, in particular, because it is offered to women in the context of population control programs. These programs often rely upon the association of women and reproduction (including contraception) for promotion and justification
60. R. Dixon-Mueller, Population Policy and Women's Rights: Transforming Reproductive Choice (New York: Praeger Press, 1993)
61. S. Correa and R. Reichmann, Population and Reproductive Rights: Feminist Perspectives from the South (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Zed Books, 1994).
62. B. Hartmann, Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control (Boston, Mass.: South End Press, 1995), 52.
63. Edwards, ''The Role of Men in Contraceptive Decision-Making,'' 78.
64. T. Rankin, ''Andrology as the Medical Specialty to Focus Medical Training on Men's Health?''The Journal of Men's Health and Gender 2, no. 1 (2005), 45-48.