So, yeah, women have been through a lot—
yet a few guys complaining of side effects we
consider normal in a trial is enough to kill a
potentially viable male BC option. Experts say
this all stems from a stuck-in-the-’60s mentality,
when women were willing to stomach just about
anything to be able to have sex as freely as men
did. “Back then, women had a lot of incentive to
put up with side effects or at least see how bad the
side effects were going to be,” explains Eig. (In
fact, when Dr. Coutinho presented his male BC at
a UN Population Conference, he was booed off
the stage by an audience of mostly women. They
had just been given control over their reproduc-
tive health a few years prior—and they weren’tInitiative, an organization that helps fund and
facilitate research on male contraceptives. When
asked what kind of method they’d use, most men
said they’d want either a pill they pop right before
sex or one they take every day.
And get this: Only one-third of men who are
on the fence about male birth control said they
were concerned about possible side effects.
One-third! In interviews with Cosmo, guys said
they’d be happy to deal with reasonable side
effects of taking birth control if it meant they’d
have more of a say in contraception. “If you’re in
any sort of relationship, you agree to share any
burdens, and birth control is unequally distrib-
uted on women,” Jeff Fitzgerald, 27, told us.
Harris Bransch, 25, agrees. “Birth control
shouldn’t be one person’s responsibility. There
are two people who are trying not to get
pregnant.”
It’s about effing time, according to you: A stag-
gering 98 percent of Cosmo readers believe there
should be a birth-control option for men beyond
condoms and vasectomies. And while most of the
women we talked to wouldn’t necessarily trust a
random hookup to accurately use or take it
(totally fair for both sides, TBH), in the context of
a relationship, nearly 100 percent of women told
us they’d ask a partner to use long-term male BC
if it existed—and that they hope it does soon.Okay, so give it to us?!
Men want it. Women want it. So the science
doesn’t need to be held back anymore by out-
dated, sexist beliefs. As a solve, Dr. Amory and
others in his field are appealing to the FDA by
trying to change the way the government thinks
about reproductive responsibility and risk.
They’re going to show them the same receipts
we just laid out for you, in the hope that the major
decision-makers wake up to the idea that men
and women should carry equal (or at least more
equitable) weight when it comes to BC—and
that men need to finally take a more active role
in preventing pregnancy.
And then there you’ll be, sometime, hopefully
not too far from now, picking up your BF’s BC gel
at the pharmacy or going with him to get his
baby-blocking implant put in. Wait...what are we
even saying? He can handle picking up his birth-
control prescription himself. It’s been half a cen-
tury. You deserve a break.In interviews with
Cosmo, guys said they’d
be happy to deal with
side effects if it meant
they’d have more of a
say in contraception.
about to give it up to men.) “One of the unin-
tended results was that men became passive and
developed the attitude that they didn’t have to
take any responsibility,” adds Eig. “So by the time
we got around to actually contemplating birth
control for men, they had checked out.”Today’s guys aren’t actually
checked out though
It’s not surprising that drugmakers might believe
the juice isn’t worth the squeeze on male BC.
But it is—or at least it could be: “Men today are
much more interested than they used to be,” says
Campo-Engelstein, “even though there’s still the
perception that they’re not.”
The honest, modern, up-to-date truth:
Today’s guys really, really want their own contra-
ception beyond condoms. A whopping 77 percent
of men between the ages of 18 and 44 who have
sex at least once a month are “very or somewhat”
interested in taking birth control, according
to a recent survey by the Male Contraceptive136
Cosmopolitan September 2019