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MALE BIRTH CONTROL PILL IS CLOSER THAN WE THINK

Brace yourselves everyone. There may be a new male birth control in the wings.
Male birth control is closer than we think

Brace yourselves everyone. There may be a new male birth control in the wings. According to TIME, a new paper published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences is showing new signs of success in creating a birth control for men by blocking proteins that transports sperm during ejaculation. The pill seems to work on mice with no side effects and they’re now moving onto studies using human subjects.

Some advantages of the male birth control pill include:

-  It doesn’t appear to affect sex drive

-  It doesn’t make sperm dysfunctional

- It makes the task of family planning easier

- It’s much more pleasant than vasectomy or at least the idea of it

This may be great news for men at first glance considering that men often worry about whether their partner is truly on birth control like they say. Also, the lack of control around being definitive can be costly in many cases. It sounds like a win-win situation when more options are available in general. Apparently, some women are not as enthusiastic about the news.

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Reported in the DailyMail, a survey conducted by Anglia Ruskin University in 2011 discovered that 50% of women didn’t trust that their partner would remember to take the pill. The reasoning behind that is that women would ultimately bear the cost of a man’s potential mistake. Other than a possible lapse in memory, most people seem to be on board as an alternative to getting a vasectomy which let’s be frank sounds less than exciting.

If this new innovation has taught us anything it’s that just because something sounds like a good idea doesn’t mean that everyone will necessarily be on board. Will men feel less masculine because they’re on the pill? Will this psychological effect influence their performance in bed?

It’s interesting to think about the how this pill would change sexual behavior and gender roles. For example, when contraception came around for women, we saw a spike in women being more sexually liberal in their behavior and attitudes. Will we see the same increase for men?

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Only time will be able to tell us the full story on male contraception as the evolution of sex continues. Although the pill may be a big win for men, there are sexually transmitted infections we still have to worry about.

Amy Yew is a registered clinical counselor and relationship therapist. Tell us what you think and submit any questions you have to amyvancouvercourier@gmail.com. You can also tweet your thoughts on Twitter @AmyYew.

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