Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

popsci.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 140 posts

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#21

Post by endisneigh »

raziel2p wrote: post #8
endisneigh wrote: post #7

The article doesn’t explain what’s wrong with condoms. Edit: lol didn’t realize this was just a controversial question

Does it need to?

I’m just curious what problem this is solving. If you’re casually dating your partner has no guarantee you’re on the pill, so you have to use a condom anyway.

If you’re with another dude, you’d still want to use a condom for stds.

If you’re in a long term relationship and don’t want kids aren’t there already better options than this?

Under what circumstances would one use this over a condom?

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#22

Post by jjtheblunt »

4oo4 wrote: post #5

There I think are a number of viable male birth control options already, but most of them never come to market. This is because it's nearly impossible to get men to invest in preventing the risk of pregnancy. Aside from condoms, unfortunately the vast majority of heterosexual men are programmed to offload that risk mitigation onto women.

or has society (western anyway) for decades offloaded that risk mitigation onto women, so there's momentum to the asymmetry and new adults join an asymmetry already assumed?

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#23

Post by brimble »

MisterSandman wrote: post #2

As a gay man, it's always a lot of fun to watch discussions on birth control for men. I personally have my money on that if/when they do launch for the public, they will be too expensive/difficult to get for basically forever, and women will continue to have to bear the cost of preventing pregnancies. "Men using birth control" would become the "hippie" thing to do that you will only see people in LA/NY do. I am very…

Lots of guys have gotten vasectomies for decades, and I don't see a lot of correlation between making that choice and being a "hippie", in my family & friends circles.

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#25

Post by brimble »

endisneigh wrote: post #21
raziel2p wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it need to?

I’m just curious what problem this is solving. If you’re casually dating your partner has no guarantee you’re on the pill, so you have to use a condom anyway. If you’re with another dude, you’d still want to use a condom for stds. If you’re in a long term relationship and don’t want kids aren’t there already better options than this? Under what circumstances would one use this over a condom?

For tons of people in committed relationships, the woman takes the pill and they don't use condoms. This just lets the guy do it instead (or in addition, if you want to be extra safe). I'm truly not following what's hard to understand about it.

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#26

Post by emptysongglass »

MisterSandman wrote: post #2

As a gay man, it's always a lot of fun to watch discussions on birth control for men. I personally have my money on that if/when they do launch for the public, they will be too expensive/difficult to get for basically forever, and women will continue to have to bear the cost of preventing pregnancies. "Men using birth control" would become the "hippie" thing to do that you will only see people in LA/NY do. I am very…

Straight man here. I have a solution to all this and it's the same solution many (though my understanding not all) gay men practice: anal sex.

It's all my wife and I do together. No pill needed! (Practice safe sex.)

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#27

Post by dgellow »

bufbupa wrote: post #12

The problem with male birth control pills is that it's the women who bear the bulk of the risk/responsibility when it comes to pregnancy. If a woman says "trust me, i'm on the pill" and lies -- they're the ones that get pregnant and likely get stuck raising the kid. Sure the father might be on the hook financially, but if the woman lied about their birth control and went forward with the pregnancy anyway it's not abs…

> and then there's better options than a chemical pill for those situations already

What are the better options? Male condoms have a "typical use failure rate" of 13%, and a "perfect use failure rate" of 2%. Which isn't really good compared to chemical contraceptives like the pill.

You can see numbers here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_birth_control_me...

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#28

Post by bufbupa »

bobro wrote: post #16
bufbupa wrote: post #12

The problem with male birth control pills is that it's the women who bear the bulk of the risk/responsibility when it comes to pregnancy. If a woman says "trust me, i'm on the pill" and lies -- they're the ones that get pregnant and likely get stuck raising the kid. Sure the father might be on the hook financially, but if the woman lied about their birth control and went forward with the pregnancy anyway it's not abs…

what better options do you mean?

for long-term birth control a copper (non-hormonal) IUD might be a better option. You don't have to remember to take pills, and it's less chemically disruptive to the body. Or better yet a vasectomy if you never want kids.

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#29

Post by Cyberdog »

endisneigh wrote: post #21
raziel2p wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it need to?

I’m just curious what problem this is solving. If you’re casually dating your partner has no guarantee you’re on the pill, so you have to use a condom anyway. If you’re with another dude, you’d still want to use a condom for stds. If you’re in a long term relationship and don’t want kids aren’t there already better options than this? Under what circumstances would one use this over a condom?

> Under what circumstances would one use this over a condom?

I personally find sex without condoms much more pleasurable and I suspect I'm not alone. I would be open to using an effective and affordable form of male birth control in a committed relationship if it meant I didn't have to use a condom.

That said, for casual encounters, this could be used in addition to a condom, just to "be sure."

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#30

Post by ravenstine »

bufbupa wrote: post #12

The problem with male birth control pills is that it's the women who bear the bulk of the risk/responsibility when it comes to pregnancy. If a woman says "trust me, i'm on the pill" and lies -- they're the ones that get pregnant and likely get stuck raising the kid. Sure the father might be on the hook financially, but if the woman lied about their birth control and went forward with the pregnancy anyway it's not abs…

So your point would be... what? Women already have birth control and still can take it. A male birth control pill helps prevent the opposite situation where she "forgot" to take the pill, or the small chance that a fertilized egg stays attached, henceforth putting the man on a financial hook. What you wrote here comes off as a case of "women most affected" since you're implying there's an asymmetric risk profile that doesn't already exist for men. Somehow having a more leveled playing field only works in long-term relationships? If anything, it's a greater benefit in short-term relationships since you can be assured that even if a condom fails the chance of pregnancy would be scant.
Post reply on HN