To prevent ovulation, the pill fools the female body into thinking it is pregnant and therefore doesnt need to make anymore eggs.
How do you stop the male reproductive system from producing millions of sperm everyday? I believe there was one pill that was developed in the seventies but it had some dire side effects, which was erectile dysfunction and loss of labido (no sex drive). I’m sure marketing had a field day with that one. Basically women have an off switch for their reproduction system, men dont. Men are horny 24-7.
Attrayant (and any others that spout off), I’m 29, not some dumbass teen (no offence to SDMB teens, you’re likely not in this demographic) and in a monogamous, early but potentially long-term, relationship.
Why the vitrior against Johnny One-Night when there has to be a Jill One-Night involved, too? Why put all the onus on her and all the blame on him. Why is it easier to say “Well, he’s a bastard because he could lie about using the pill” when, right now, that’s not even an option and one-night stands happen all the time?
Please leave min-rants about one-night stand abuse and STD’s out of this, I just want to know the viability of an effective male version of the Pill. What other people use it for is on them, much like the female version of the Pill.
It helps if you read the thread, especially the links to recent literature that describes the answer to your question, or perhaps even just read quotes from the literature that have been thoughfully cut and pasted to this thread so lazy people don’t even HAVE to click the link. In case anyone is too lazy to even scroll, I will re-post it here:
well then, you link actually shows the study where the motility of the sperm was affected. That may render them ineffective which technically is infertility but as you say sperm count is not affected. It does not stop the male reproductive system from producing millions of sperm everyday, and all it takes is that one lone sperm to penetrate the egg and thats all she wrote. Given that this drug affects the sperm, think of what kind of genetic problems that can be produced if a deformed sperm manages to impregnate the egg?
as far as horniness is concerned, what good is a male pill if men dont want to have sex as a result? thats kinda overkill, dont you think?
No, its not too much trouble but it is a pain in the ass as we’ve been using them for 4 years so stop with the condescending attitude. We’ve been monogamous for 5 years. We have no STDs and we’re not about to catch any. We deeply trust each other. I’m 30 and Mrs. Bernse is 27.
So, answer this: Why the hell can’t we use a pill? Do you have stock in Trojan or something?
There have been political issues on this topic as well.
R&D for new birth control methods is expensive. Especially drug development.
There is the feeling that conservatives would fight FDA approval of any new contraceptive - particularly something as drastically different from what is available now as a male temporary sterility drug.
No one has really quantified how big a market there would be for a men’s pill.
The feeling in the industry is that birth control is a woman’s problem and there won’t be a large enough market.
I’ve seen a paper on this someplace - Guettmacher, Planned Parenthood, one of those, that talked about these issues. Don’t have time to search for it however.
All I know is that I took it after I got married for 3 years despite nasty side effects and when I quite doing that, I took the initiative to use a different form of birth control–only after witnessing two births was my husband willing to undergo what I refer to as my “V-surgery” (“v” for victory) and have the vasectomy.
Becasue this sugar apparently simply damages the physical bodies of the sperm and prevents them from being capable of doing this, it doesn’t seem to be a problem. This is not a virus or another agent which can alter the genetic make up of cells, and I see no particular reason to fear that it would.
Additionally, some women don’t take the pill bacuse of the side effects CAN be horrendous. They may be moderate for some, but they can be horrible for others. I personally know two girls who stopped the pill due to weight gain, and I’m sure numerous dopers (IrishGirl?) have issues with the pill. If there is an oportunity for another pill with lower side effects, what’s wrong?
Condom’s are relatively innefective to begin with, and there is nothing wrong with an additional layer of protection, especially in relationships where STD’s are not a principle concern.
Your family experiences are reflective of the people within your family, and an argument gets very tenuous if someone projects one’s personal experiences onto a much larger group. You may not trust your husband to take it, but thinksnow’s SO may have a very different opinion than yours, as I can guarantee thinksnow is not the same person as your husband. For permanent birth control, tubal ligation and vasectomies are both options, but we are talking about non-permanent measures here.