I was on newspapers.com reading 1940s and 1950s articles about vasectomies. Some were Q&As. But many said it was difficult to get one without a medical cause (and some politicians wanted to make it a crime for doctors do one without medical cause). So I was just curious about people who got them (for voluntary birth control reasons not about not passing down genetic disease) back when they were less common. And if you knew how people reacted to it, or even if the man in question kept it as secret for a time.
My first husband got one in, I think, 1978 and my dad was a few years before that. Purely for BC and basically zero reaction. They were done having kids, they made sure they weren’t going to have more. My mother and I both had tubal ligations for the same reason right around the same time frame, I think my mom was circa 1972 or so? Mine was in 1979.
Myself in 1972.
I got mine in about 1992, so hardly cutting-edge treatment. (
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My Dad got his in about 1964. And solely for birth control reasons. He told me about it sometime shortly after I got the “birds & bees” speech from him in about 1972. Then again, we lived in SoCal, where religious garbage had little impact on public policy, even back then.
Family member in 1972. No problem, no secret. For BC following two kids.
I think a friend of mine’s dad got one in the 1970s, but that’s mostly just a recollection from childhood of him being out of commission for a few days with ice on his crotch.
Otherwise of people my age, I was the first in 2015, on the recommendation of a co-worker who explained how his had worked, and how uncomplicated his recovery was. (we got the no-scalpel style).
My FIL got one for birth control in the late sixties.
One of my classmates in grad school, I’m guessing late 20s, early 30s at most, got a vasectomy after his second kid was born. This was a well established couple, he had a very good job in IT, nice house, etc.
He said it was very easy for him to get one, but very hard for his wife to get the equivalent (tubal ligation?). Not just from a physical discomfort and risk point of view. They wanted his wife to go through some kind of psychological exam first. He just went in, signed some forms and a week later snippety snip. Or is it clippity clip?
Late 1990s. I was surprised he was sharing this with me, a relative stranger.