One method of male contraception is safe and practically free, but few men have heard of it.
In “The Best Birth Control In The World Is For Men,” Jon Clinkenbeard calls RISUG the perfect birth contraceptive. RISUG stands for “reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance.” Two common chemicals are injected into the vas deferens, where they combine to create a polymer that coats the insides of the vas. When seminal fluid passes through the vas, sperm are “torn apart” by something called “the polyelectrolytic effect.” Because the treatment does not block the vas altogether, there is no danger of seminal fluid backing up as it can sometimes do following a vasectomy. The procedure is effective for ten years, but can be easily reversed with another injection.
In a second article on TechCitement by the same author, Clinkenbeard confirms that RISUG holds hopes for reducing HIV transmission. In addition, there is a nonhormonal male contraceptive pill being developed that is expected to prevent all semen-transmitted STIs. “Could This Male Contraceptive Pill Make A Vas Deferens In the Fight Against HIV?” Pardoning the pun, because the name for the pill is even funnier, the “clean sheets pill” in development at Kings College in London works by affecting muscle contraction around the vas deferens, preventing semen from being discharged during male orgasm. Because there is no semen, there’s no transmission from male to female of any STI.
These and other forms of male birth control you have never heard of are described in detail on the Male Contraception Information Project website. One of the methods described uses only wet heat, applied daily for three weeks, to convey reliable, reversible sterility.
Clinkenbeard and others cite the financial woes that prevent male contraception from being brought to market. Organizations like the Gates Foundation and USAID have had their funding slashed, and pharmaceutical companies have not stepped up to fill the gap. With methods like the wet heat method, there is no financial advantage to pharmaceutical companies funding FDA trials when there is no product to sell. For other methods of male contraception you haven’t heard of yet, like ultrasound, trials have not yet established human dosage required for effectiveness.
Because the field of male birth control is so underserved, there is a lot more that men can do than we think. There are methods that have been well documented in other countries that you can safely try, yourself. While ultrasound has the potential to cause permanent sterility and so shouldn’t be experimented with, the availability of inexpensive sperm test kits and a thermometer will allow you to start using the wet heat method right away. If your ideal solution comes in a convenient to take pill, you can help make that dream a reality: the Parsemus Foundation is currently accepting donations toward research on the “clean sheets” pill.
—Photo shino 誌野/Flickr
Bag it. Bin it. Please don’t flush it… #condoms or any other nondegradable products.
Cheers much.
This was a sad sad comment thread. So ultimately you should be able to 100% trust your partner, if not don’t have sex. If you do 100% trust your partner and it turns out they lied, ultimately you should have known/had a feeling you couldn’t trust them, so you should have used your own protection or not had sex. Sounds alot like victim blaming to me. If you consent to sex on the basis people are using protection, and during/before sex people remove said protection without your knowledge (remove condom/barrier, stop taking pills) you are know having a form of… Read more »
When considering the side effects of a contraceptive method, I suggest comparing them to the side effects of being a parent, especially a parent when you don’t want to be, to put it in a larger perspective. And, just saying “lifestyle choice” does not really make much of an argument. As for birth control being part of a lifestyle choice, that may be literally true, but there are hundreds of individual choices that the rest of society has been compelled to pay for, many of which are now taken as entitlements. It’s just a lifestyle choice that someone buys a… Read more »
Ayn Rand 2012 😉
So before I ask my question, let me reiterate that I think men should have more options, and that I agree they should have private options, like RISUG. Again, I am all for more and private options. Alrighty with that being said…I’ve a question, and I’m not being facetious. To the guys who are talking about being worried a woman is going to steal their condoms, or are worried about the power issues involved in having sex with someone when you can’t be private about your contraception: why are you having sex with women like that anyway? And yes, if… Read more »
A cheap shot from the cheap seat: That sounds almost like why argue for legal abortion when one could just avoid having sex with people you don’t trust/dont’ want kids with? Too often I’ve seen the arguments that men can just keep it in their pants if they don’t want to risk having kids. Too often that arguments comes from people who are nowhere close to saying that women who don’t want to risk having kids should keep their knees together rather than having an abortion. To make it clear: I’m pro-choice – I am just pointing out an inconsistency… Read more »
Okay well your post is long so I’ll reply in chunks. Firstly, as I pointed out, I’d say the same thing to women. Secondly, I’m not saying keep your legs shut (or your pants up). I’m asking about partner choice. So your abortion question…any vaginal intercourse can (theoretically) result in pregnancy, and if it’s unwanted that could mean abortion…thus it’s not about partner choice. The whole ‘she’ll steal my sperm’ concept is very much about partner choice…this isn’t a danger every time a man has vaginal intercourse. I’m not saying “just don’t have sex.” I’m saying “just don’t have sex… Read more »
For a man the abortion issue is very much a partner issue as it’s the woman who has (as it has to be) the final say about whether an unwanted (by her, him, or both) pregnancy should be carried to term. Couples finding themselves in such a siuation where it turns out that they have different view on abortion (either in principle or in a particular case (one partner wants the baby the other doesn’t) will not have an easy time of reconciling those two views. A partner’s view on abortion is therefore relevant before one engage in sex. Up… Read more »
“For a man the abortion issue is very much a partner issue as it’s the woman who has (as it has to be) the final say about whether an unwanted (by her, him, or both) pregnancy should be carried to term.” Ohmygoodnessgracious, we weren’t talking about abortion from the men’s perspective, but from the women’s. You brought it up as an example of where you though I was being hypocritical (though you were nice enough not to use that term), and I was pointing out that, no, it’s different. From the women’s perspective, unwanted pregnancy is always a possibility (technically)…whereas… Read more »
Ok, we’ll leave abortion discussion out of it as it is off-topic as you point out. From the women’s perspective, unwanted pregnancy is always a possibility (technically)…whereas from the man’s perspective, a woman stealing his sperm is not all ways a possibility. This is a pretty strong statement. What you are saying here is that only men have the means to ensure 100% that pregnancy doesn’t occur. What can men do to prevent pregnancy with such an accuracy that women can’t do? I’d be interested in how you came to this statement. We are in agreement that one is wise… Read more »
Mate, I feel like we’re speaking in different languages…or like related languages, but we’re having a problem with translation or something. For starters, it seems like you’re reading a hell of a lot more into what I’m saying than what I mean. “This is a pretty strong statement. What you are saying here is that only men have the means to ensure 100% that pregnancy doesn’t occur.” That is not what I’m saying. That completely isn’t what I’m saying, at all. So let me try once more: Vaginal intercourse – pregnancy is a possibility (even with contraception it’s a very… Read more »
Okay as to the examples your providing about women being willing to deceive their partners…mate, it’s the internet and a trashy magazine. I’m not denying that you found women on those message boards that’d be willing to try to get pregnant without their partner’s knowledge…but I do doubt that’s the norm (or anything even close to the norm). “The danger is from people you trust who turn out to not deserve that trust.” Alrighty but then…sounds like you don’t actually trust them, on some level. And, if you’re the type who is just always a bit worried that a woman’ll… Read more »
My understanding of the word norm is that it is something that is expected by other or something that the majority do. Nowhere in my post did I intend to claim that women lying about contraception in order to get pregnant were a norm. I quoted the only “statistics” I could find and pointed out it’s unreliability, but stated that I thought that it wasn’t uncommon. To be clear, when I said not uncommon I mean that it happens and that it is not so seldom that it is ignorable (partly because the consequences are so big). I did not… Read more »
Yeah again, I think we’re talking about slightly different things here…because I’m not talking about blaming someone when something like this happens. I’m talking about people who are so afraid it could happen, they bring up private contraception as something that’s closing some sort of huge power gap in heterosexual sexual encounters. “Having a private contraception option would reduce or elliminate this low risk without having to tackle the trust issue.” This, I think, is getting closer to what I’m trying to talk about. I can get behind what you’re saying here…I just also see others treating it, not as… Read more »
Here’s the issue with that: It isn’t a very low possibility. Out of the 5 friends my age who have had kids ( mid 30’s) 2 have had questionable contraceptive failures. (The other 3 got married first.) One got drunk and told her boyfriend that she was on the pill when she didn’t (she also didn’t take the morning after pill nor have an abortion, and was joking about it at get togethers…) The other (a docotor, natch) swore that a medical condition was toying with her body chemistry (ditto on the backup) Neither relationship lasted long but neither of… Read more »
I guess until we have RISUG, condoms will be more important than ever. And flushing them. No matter if it hurts the feelings of the person one is with.
Unfortunately it’s not that easy. I’m not married and if a girl I was dating started with “You don’t need a condom” I could insist or leave. But what if it was a serious relationship or even a marriage? Men are left in a precarious position. A man insisting on condoms during marriage pretty much has signed his own divorce decree. Even if she has given hints to be wary… Where does that leave him? Where does this leave his other children if he has them? You talk about hurt feelings, what we should be talking about is ending relationships..… Read more »
I guess that the conversations should be had well before marriage, honestly and over multiple occasions. Sex has to be talked about. If a woman isn’t willing to have a conversation with the person she is spending her reproductive years about pregnancy prevention, maybe she’s not the person to marry. I realize it may sound like I’m offering platitudes, but I’m serious as hell about the conversations. Like, sitting down and saying, I don’t ever want to have kids lady. I’m going to be taking control of my reproductive years now with condoms and in the future with a vasectomy… Read more »
People change.
This is the unsaid part of this conversation. Everybody says you need to pick wisely at the beginning…. but people change. A friend of mine told me about a book: “Intellectual Foreplay” by Eve Hogan which gets into how these questions need to be asked at the beginning of the relationship.
But people change. And not everyone is going to tell you that they have changed before taking action.
Planting everything on conversation and communication is a wonderful idea but woefully inadequate.
I’m reminded of discussions on Feministing.com years ago asking the same questions. Why is there no FDA approved male contraception? Their conclusion was that contraception is seen as the female responsibility. Thus there are a lot of people in powerful places who just assume that men don’t care, and would never pay for any of it. The FDA requires a lot of money and require the treatment to reach some very high standards before they’ll let it into America. Combined with the above I can see why there aren’t any forms of male contraception. Obviously people need to wake up… Read more »
No, the gov’t should pay for it. You know, the same deal women want with their birth control.
I think the government should pay for birth control for everyone, men and women. It’s a lot cheaper than paying for babies.
I’m fine for the gov’t paying for things we all share, like infrastructure & national defense. I’m less okay with the gov’t paying for lifestyle decisions.
“I’m less okay with the gov’t paying for lifestyle decisions.” And at the risk of sounding like a broken record…I’ll point out that birth control is not about lifestyle decisions. A completely monogamous, married, couple will also use birth control if they don’t want to have a baby. And if they’re using hormonal birth control; they’ll be using the same amount (and it’ll cost the same) as a woman who has a one-night-stand every day. If/when a male pill/injection/etc is developed, then it’ll be the same thing. I don’t know how to get people to realize that using birth control… Read more »
Non-reproductive sex is still seen as fornication by some religious types. Hence the whole lifestyle choice deelie.
I would’ve thought that this went without saying.
A birth control is, in fact, a lifestyle decision. Having children is the logical consequence of having sex. Deciding you want to have children is a deeply personal decision you are making about the kind of life you want or are able to lead.
“A birth control is, in fact, a lifestyle decision.” Brill, then everything is a lifestyle decision. If you’re not okay with paying for birth control (cuz you think it’s a lifestyle decision), then you should probably be against your taxes going toward highways (because owning a car is a lifestyle decision), or paying for higher education (because everything past high school is a lifestyle decision), or public libraries (because using them is a lifestyle decision). Or an oldie, but a goodie, Medicaid paying for Viagra…because having sex is a lifestyle decision. How about tax exemption from donations made to charities?… Read more »
Spot on Heather, esp this “How hey, I’m a Scientoligist and I’m against psychiatric treatment…insanity is the logical conclusion of a chemical imbalance in your brain…I don’t think I should have to pay for the psychiatric treatments of the criminally insane.”
At the risk of sounding like an abstinence-based approach, I recommend babysitting a colicky baby as a quite effective means of birth control, or spending time at Toys ‘R’ Us the week before Christmas, or watching the video of a long and difficult childbirth. Nothing like the cold slap of reality to make you more circumspect about what you do with your anatomy. No, this is not a substitute for actual physical contraception. Just that I’ve always found observing parents to be an influential form of birth control. This would actually stimulate even more demand for access to reliable contraception… Read more »
On the other hand I find adults are generally a pain in the #$$. Kids I will take any day. Isn’t it a great world when you can have two completely different perspectives?
“Because the field of male birth control is so underserved, there is a lot more that men can do than we think.”
None of these methods are available, approved, or legal. There is NOTHING that men can do except put our future in the hands of others.
“There is NOTHING that men can do except put our future in the hands of others.” And wear a condom. Sorry to constantly harp on about this, but I feel like it’s something that gets overlooked. Women have more options, but men aren’t completely powerless when it comes to contraception. Anyway, you and I have discussed male contraception, and I agree that men need more options. Reading this article about points to the fact that there are options that have been created, they just need to be tested and mass produced. But as this article points out, you can try… Read more »
Agreed, Heather. Don’t play a victim role, here Anthony. There are people working hard to get RISUG here in the states as well as the other things listed. And condoms are a great choice! Use ones with spermacide for an even higher safety rate. Flush them down the toilet and then it’s a sure thing! Bring a Today Sponge with you and help her put it in! (peeps should be using barrier methods anyway if it’s a new encounter and people haven’t been tested) Refuse intercourse and opt for oral or manual sex, even if she wants PIV. I know… Read more »
Does Today sponge still exist??? Maybe not.
The sponge has been back on the market for a couple years. One problem is that it’s expensive and they keep jacking up the price as it becomes more popular. 2 years ago I could buy a 3-pack at CVS for $15. Now it’s $18+ for a 3 pack. If you have frequent sex you could easily spend $100 a month on this method. It really sucks b/c the sponge is a great option for monogamous couples who don’t want to use other methods. For example, I can’t take the pill due to a family history of blood clots and… Read more »
Men are not “playing victim”. We are vcitims of an intentional campaign to prevent the availability of male contraceptives. This reality, its history, and its motivations are all clearly explained in this video (with translation into english):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JymN5yu-K_o
Male contraception has been available since the 70s. The reason why men are DENIED access to these technologies is POWER.
Anthony, I am a fierce proponent of everyone getting access to birth control. I would love a male pill/thing. Love it. Have been talking about RISUG to anyone I can reach. I”m a feminist. I’ve watched this. When was the video filmed? Interviewer mentions she first talked to him in the 70’s. What happened since them? I want actual cites on the drug. I want cites on China’s current usage of it. I want papers connected to it’s efficacy. I’ve heard of this drug on other sites and it appears that permanent infertility was mentioned as a side effect, and… Read more »
If that was TL/DR Gossypol was found by several countries to be too toxic for use, and could cause permanent infertility. Gossypol, the name of the drug (derived from Cotton seed) and found several articles indicating it’s toxicity levels being too high for human use. Here as well. “The large-scale trials of gossypol in Chinese men reported an abnormally high rate of hypokalemia among subjects, varying from 1-10%. Hypokalemia is characterized by low levels of potassium in the blood. Potassium is one of the elements used by the muscles and nerves to transmit signals. Symptoms of low blood potassium include… Read more »
IUD, painful painful? I just had one inserted a month ago and while there was a moment of intense cramping during the procedure and some followup cramps that week, it hurt less than other things I’ve done to myself. (But of course, every woman’s experience is probably different.) The wet heat method fascinates me, but I would still be nervous to rely on that as the sole source of contraception. Maybe wet heat + condom would feel trustworthy (and I’m not talking about STI prevention here, just straight-up prevention of babies), but the hot water alone (even with the scientific… Read more »
“But women don’t really always like remembering to take the pill or dealing with it’s side effects. But millions of us take it religiously. The IUD is a painful painful thing to insert and doesn’t always work well with some women. Some women are very sensitive to spermacide but deal with it.”
And all of these are excellent arguments in favour of developing male contraceptives 😉
Amen, brother, you’ll get no argument from me there.
Not private = not contraception. Contraception is CONVENIENCE when couples agree. Contraception is POWER when couples do not agree. Power over one’s own reproduction = reproductive autonomy Until men have a PRIVATE birth control option, we have no power, and consequently we have no autonomy. It does not matter how many side effects, discomfort, or pain comes with it. As long as it is PRIVATE. If a woman wants children, and a man does not, the only way he can act to protect himself is to visibly demonstrate that he does not trust her. This is not PRIVATE, therefore it… Read more »
Okeypokeydokey, I agree it should be able to be private, and I agree that having it not be private can be the source of power issues in an already problematic relationship. However, to simply say not private = not contraception is again too simple. If you can’t trust your partner, and if your partner doesn’t want you to use a condom…well then you have the option of not having vaginal intercourse. I mean it sucks, but it’s there. And, well look, the only forms of protection available to lesbians are visible barriers too. We’re not talking about contraception, just protection… Read more »
There have been cases where women have salvaged sperm from a condom or oral sex. I can’t imagine why I’d stay in a relationship with someone who I knew was that determined to make me a parent against my will, but then maybe I wouldn’t know until it was too late.
I’m asking this question not because I condone any behavior that would constitute theft or forced parenthood, but given sperm has a very delicate shelf life (sperm might only live 20 minutes in a condom, or depending on the acidity of the saliva in a woman’s mouth (at most an hour), I’m trying to figure out how successful attempts would be. If a woman saved sperm from oral sex, she’d have to deposit it some place, get it up inside her (as most sperm entering the vaginal canal will also die due to it’s acidity level) etc etc. I have… Read more »
Sperm ar hardier than you’d think. At least some women have succeeded in doing just what you described.
I’d rather have access to contraceptives than try to play games like that with my partner. Honestly, the lack of trust required to do all that could poison any relationship, its easier just to have a chemical which gives each partner control over their own reproduction.
I do want to have kids some day, but I want it to be on my (and their) terms.
Well, duh! Anyone tampering with condoms bc ( and there have been cases of men tampering so that their partner would conceive) is immoral and a horrible person. It should be a crime in both directions.
I’m sort of with Julie on this one, with the questions she’s asking. Plus, not only does sperm have a very delicate shelf life, but even if you get it into the turkey-baster (or w/e) unharmed, it’d still be wicked awkward to try to do yourself. And then that’s not even going into the fact that often you don’t get pregnant the first time you try artificial insemination (at least that’s the info I’ve been given). But also, I’d be very interested in seeing actual, factual, statistics on how many women actually do this. And more importantly, I’d be interested… Read more »
“But also, I’d be very interested in seeing actual, factual, statistics on how many women actually do this.”
Honestly so would I, but that kind of academic research isn’t all that likely when gender studies department openly admit that they consider the term to mean women’s studies.
Sorry, the Tom Martin verdict is bugging me.
Because the various FDAs around the world claim it is too toxic for human use. Gossypol, the name of the drug (derived from Cotton seed) and found several articles indicating it’s toxicity levels being too high for human use. Here as well. “The large-scale trials of gossypol in Chinese men reported an abnormally high rate of hypokalemia among subjects, varying from 1-10%. Hypokalemia is characterized by low levels of potassium in the blood. Potassium is one of the elements used by the muscles and nerves to transmit signals. Symptoms of low blood potassium include fatigue, muscle weakness and at its… Read more »
Chinese gossypol trials used excessive doses. This is what led to the toxicity.
Nofertil trials (same medicine, much lower doses) showed only one undesired side effect, which you mention (irreversible infertility). This is a risk that should be made clear to the patient, but as long as the patient feelts it is an acceptable risk, why is the drug denied?
Well, find the groups lobbying for it now and work on it. I mean, that’s all ANY of us can do if we want something. Personally, I’d put my money behind RISUG since there are no side effects but do as you will. I’m just pointing out what the video did not. If Brazil itself didn’t approve it, why? The Church? The side effects? Something happened that wasn’t good and as much as I love a good conspiracy theory, I just don’t think Betty Friedan has that much power from Budapest to Brazil. So, go push for the drug-get a… Read more »
I’m also in favor of RISUG—one (very cheap) injection that lasts ten years is practically foolproof. But gossypol isn’t out of the question—the toxic dose is approximately 9 times the contraceptive dose. So there is room to work with it. I agree with Anthony though—this is fundamentally about power and who wields it. While the women on this message board may be all in favor of effective, reversible, private, unilateral male contraception the women who actually wield power in DC and various state capitals (i.e., those who head up feminism groups and womens’ interest groups) will labor mightily to prevent… Read more »
I’m all for being awake. I’ve been awake for years. So if it is feminism that has the biggest influence…..I believe it has some influence sure. I also think the lack of options for men has a lot to do with the pharmaceutical industry and what they think men will buy, personally. I follow money as much as anything. Money is the ultimate power. That’s why cigarettes are still legal I imagine. Cause they make more money then god. So if men demand it, lots of men, men with money, my thought is they’ll get it. Which is completely opposed… Read more »
This would certainly be something that feminists and MRAs could both agree on. So what’s the problem?
The problem is that alot of feminists still exist for whom addressing male issues is literally a threat. The other kind exist too (just see Julie and Heather) but I’ve had some conversations with feminists lately that have really shocked me. Men’s issues literally aren’t allowed to be part of the conversation for some people.
Exactly. The problem is that its those kind of feminists who wield institutional power, not more reasonable women like Julie & Heather.
Weren’t similar claims made regarding the side effects of oestrogen pills before women’s groups forced them into the market?
I don’t know, actually. I know they did lots of messing about with the levels of hormones in them. I personally am a result of that, as my mother changed dosages and well…bam, there I was. They still create new pills new hormone combinations to make the side effects (though non toxic, uncomfortable to some) more palatable. If women’s lobbies in the 70’s held up the male pill you know the only thing I can think? Aside from how short sighted it is? Is that to have control over your body for the first time ever. Ever. Ever in all… Read more »
I’m not knocking their efforts, it was a massive step forward for everyone. I was just wondering if the same pressure is appropriate and necessary in order to secure access to risug.
Also, as heather pointed out, condoms had been around for quite some time. Surely the invention of latex heralded the first time men or women could make reproductive choices while still enjoying PIV sex?
Several people on the condom poll stated that they didn’t regularly have sex. I avoid using them personally, but then I don’t really enjoy penetrative sex to begin with.
Well, maybe but not at a universal 98% efficacy rate. Pesseries were invented long ago too, lemon halves filled with ashes or dung and placed in the vagina near the cervix. Clean! Didn’t always work. My mother couldn’t buy condoms in the 30’s and 40’s. Women and men might could use them together, but it’s a question too of access. Can both women and men get them, cheaply and readily? Do they know how to use them? Are there cultural norms in place that allow for communication around them? Going back to my mom, she told me once, “People have… Read more »
Great article. Now if we can just get us knuckleheads to use some of these methods…