IT'S AN oxymoron. And frankly, it could easily be 20 more years before it reaches drugstore shelves. And when and if it does arrive, it could remain there. The mere concept is unfathomable: a birth control pill for men.
Birth control always has been mainly the burden of women, the capacity for pregnancy being, of course, one of the significant things that differentiate men from women. The fact that only women bear children historically has limited them in many ways. Pregnancy is professionally limiting, socially disruptive and physically inconvenient. And, there's literally nothing we can do to correct this gender imbalance. Despite the clever innovations scientists have come up with, it's likely that very few babies will be born in the gender-neutral ground of a laboratory, and child-birth will still be left up to the women. So although the pill was a positive advancement for women, its creation is demonstrative of a more modern sexism. Scientists have barely begun working on the male birth control pill. More time and money need to go toward research.
The existence of dozens of types of oral contraceptives taken by millions of women and no current medications for men screams what society has been suggesting for centuries: Birth control is the responsibility of women. Considering that it takes two to make a baby, that one gender should be designated as safety monitor is inequitable.
Pregnancy also has limited women sexually. In the past, women could not experience sexual intercourse without consequences. The arrival of the birth control pill 40 years ago moved the feminist cause forward immeasurable leaps and bounds. Along with the automobile and the Internet, it was one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century and essential to bringing women to a more balanced plane with men. However, the question remains: Why was it made for women, and not for men?
Birth control for American women is an enormous market. The options available for women's use include the pill, Depo Provera, Norplant, the female condom, the diaphragm, tubal ligation and the cervical cap. Any sexually active female could expound on the virtues and shortcomings of each of these methods, while most sexually active males are probably wondering what a cervix is and how you would possibly get a cap on it. The birth control methods that scientists have refined for men are limited to two options: condoms or vasectomy. The former is neither extremely dependable nor wildly popular in terms of stimulation; the latter, besides being useful only as a permanent procedure, is otherwise not attractive to most males.
Economically and socially, America has taken advantage of the fact that women are biologically more responsible for babies than men. Despite the indirect effects on the sperm contributor, the egg owner will be the one carrying around a fetus for nine months. Biology has necessitated that women care more, and society has responded by only creating a pill for women to take that prevents pregnancy.
Taking the pill can be described as an inconvenience at best. It's expensive. It's tedious, as missing a day is not a desirable option. Also, physicians believe that taking the pill for longer than a few years could have damaging long-term effects. Birth control is, in short, a burden, and it is a burden for women. That a drug that will inhibit male conception is barely on the radar screen demonstrates the current imbalance of sexual politics.
While the male birth control pill is probably still years from making its debut in pharmacies, consider what scientists have achieved in the sexual health realm. Medical research for women has been concentrated in the realm of contraceptives, and men's in that of Viagra. While men are working with an advanced hormonal prescription to increase sexual pleasure, women have at best Trojans that are "ribbed for her pleasure." Sexual health issues for men have remained under the category of performance. While pregnancy no longer holds women back, preventing pregnancy of it still is an obligation for women.
Even if scientists could produce the pill for men, the question still remains if men would be willing to take it. If there were a female version of Viagra, you can bet that women would be popping it left and right.
In order to equalize the sexual playing field, scientific research needs to move forcibly in a new direction. Instead of researching yet another means of female birth control and trying to increase the male libido, research groups should prioritize the creation of an effective oral contraceptive for men.
It certainly takes two to make a baby. But only one partner's effort is needed to prevent its conception. Perhaps one day men will be biologically and socially capable of bearing children. But until pregnancy can be an equally shared burden, at least birth control should.
(Kimberly Liu's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at kliu@cavalierdaily.com.)
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