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Got some pills for my love, to put me at ease

It can truly be considered a miracle that I’ve thus far escaped pregnancy. I offer as evidence the fact that I am a woman in my mid-twenties in good health with an active social life who cannot for the life of her remember to take a daily pill.

I speak, of course, about the famed and justly popular birth control pill, the tiny little tablet that pumps hormones into me in order to prevent a tiny Rebecca from invading an innocent and unsuspecting world. Oh, how I loathe it.

I’m off the thing now (good riddance), but back in the day I would forget to pop it at least twice a month. As most of you may know, skipping the nightly ritual requires one to double up the next day, resulting in twice the hormone goodness and twice the nausea. Hate!

Well, now couples out there have a new option — forcing the men to endure the responsibility (and possibly the side effects). A new study has just shown that the male version of the Pill is safe for a man’s long-term fertility. This bodes well for both the clinical approval as well as the marketability of such a product.

So, will women be willing to trust the men in their lives to pop the pill every day? I don’t think that men are necessarily less responsible at something like that, but it is a shifting of roles, and therefore a shifting of trust, that will have to take place. I do feel as though most men should see this as a very positive thing. They will be much more in control of their own reproduction, ending the fear of “she told me she was on the pill/she poked holes in the condom/she told me she was a he.” Well, maybe not that last one.

Not all men are sold on the idea yet, though. As my friend and Skepchick supporter Jeff Wagg quipped,

Tender breasts are a bitch when you’re replacing a transmission.

(FYI, any side effects at this early point appear to be minor — more info here)

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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5 Comments

  1. Single party birth control is only for committed couples. Any single person who trusts a sexual partner who says, "it's OK, I'm on the pill" is just asking for trouble. Birth control should be the personal responsibility of every person, male and female. When I was single, if she said, "I'm on the pill," I wore a condom anyway.

  2. Hi Paul,

    I agree with you 100%. You are a smart man. I know it sounds terrible of me to say this about The Sisterhood, but there are women who still try to rope guys into marriage by getting knocked up. Additionally, why risk STDs?

  3. I agree with Paul and Stacey, it's unwise to blindly trust someone when the stakes are so high. This is a wonderful development for guys! Now they can protect themselves with more certainty from an unwanted pregnancy. Maybe less deadbeat dads in the future?

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