A Pill for Bill

You may have read about the male contraceptive pills currently in testing phases. If not, visit http://www.livescience.com/14440-male-birth-control-pill-sperm-vitamin.html .

When asked, many women, understandably, express caution about ever trusting men to be conscientious enough to take the pills. Dr. Frances Praver, the self described “Love Doc,” is not alone when she wonders in a Psychology Today blog if they will take it at all (see http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-doc/201109/equal-powers-between-the-sheets ). She hopes they will, because, she argues, leaving the primary responsibility for contraception to women undercuts women’s power in the bedroom. The latter point is debatable, actually, but it’s not the one I wish to address. Let’s just consider the primary question: Will men take it?

I don’t think this is complicated, because in these matters men aren’t complicated. Men are like swimming pools: even the deep ones are shallow on one end. Of course men want to avoid the responsibilities of unplanned fatherhood. At the same time they fear negative side effects from any medication, particularly sexual side affects. If there are such side effects, they won’t take it. If there are none, they’ll take it when needed. If there are positive side effects, they'll actively seek it out for that reason alone. That simple.