Male Birth Control

The FreeP just ran an interesting article about something we've talked about as a hypothetical situation in class several times: birth control for males. After just having the reading the article for class about the media's portrayal of rape myths in the Kobe Bryant trial, I read this with caution. The opening sentence is: "A new male birth control method to reduce semen output offers results comparable to a vasectomy and may dispel the belief that contraception is a woman's responsibility, researchers and experts suggest." I think article itself is not sexist because it presents but does not support the "woman's responsibility" myth.

However, the entire article does focus on the myth. One expert they interviewed said that "a male birth control pill is necessary because it adds to women's options to take the pill and allows men to share the risk of pregnancy." He goes on to say that the drug companies "have felt women would not trust a man to actually be on the pill" and that "men wouldn't take the pill because they don't perceive birth control to be their responsibility." They also interviewed a male BU student who said that "[male] birth control isn't necessary when there are other means to prevent possible child birth. [...] Just using condoms and spermicide eliminates almost any chance of pregnancy, so that seems fine by me." All of these quotes obviously perpetuate the sexist myth, which seems to be the most interesting part of the new birth control method. Unlike other articles about developments in medicine, when it deals with sexuality and gender roles, that is what is discussed the most.