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New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

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Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hot take: social security is a Ponzi scheme.

If new members join the scheme at the rate that old members die, and the average member expects to get out what they put in, then it is a very sustainable Ponzi scheme. In theory you'd have the problem of inflation if each generation put all their contributions into a dedicated fund which was later used to pay their expenses in old age, but fortunately the current contributors can pay for the current beneficiaries, w…

It also makes it very hard to roll back because some generation will get screwed, paying for handouts to old people and getting 0.

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#112
post #94

"without side effects" is a hyper-bold statement, to be really sure about side effect any drug demand around 10 years after a certain level of adoption... For instance vasectomy for years was considered "safe" even if "definitive" know we know, at least many suggest that vasectomy increase risk of prostate and testicular cancers. So far the only "permanent" (well, for a certain number of years) contraceptive method w…

> at least many suggest that vasectomy increase risk of prostate and testicular cancers

There is no consensus on this, though, and meta analysis suggest that there is no significant connection [1].

[1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar...

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? Any attempt to regulate or restrict birth control against women is consistently held up as the “patriarchy” because it restricts women’s autonomy. Now not restricting it is patriarchy? Seems like literally everything is. So far, men’s birth controls haven’t been legalized because the risks have been pretty massive. The last trial I heard of had a massive risk of suicide. “Patriarchy” has no part of it.

> The last trial I heard of had a massive risk of suicide. “Patriarchy” has no part of it. Existing birth control options for women also have high risk of mental health issues though. So people might reasonably question why were approved for women but not for men.

A not-insignificant demographic that takes the pill do so in part to regulate hormones to the extent that it alleviates menstrual pain. It's not just to prevent pregnancy.

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#114
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a decline but a stabilisation. That's really what's needed to make our planet sustainable. Right now the absolute worst thing you can do for the environment is to have a child as a westerner. And we're not hoping for loss of life. Just a more balanced population in the long term. We can't keep growing until every square meter of this planet is covered with people, I'm sure that's clear. Eventually resources will…

Western Europe, the US and China are already below replacement. If you have bought into this line of thinking then you should be saying: >> Right now the absolute worst thing you can do for the environment is to have a child as an African . [0] Because today's African babies are tomorrow's European migrants, who will bolster the ranks of the polluting global elite. But we don't want to go here do we? [0] https://en.w…

African kids don't cause as much pollution as Europeans and Americans do. By orders of magnitude.

However yes in the long term we should not keep growing our world population as a whole. I do understand the need for Africans to have more kids though. For two reasons: A lot more of them die due to poor living conditions, and they serve as a "pension" for the parents.

Obviously these concerns will be solved by better living conditions.

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#115
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This depends. Do you want someone to be able to take care of you after you retire? Medical care, that sort of thing? If so, that means that you need people. People younger than you. People with some sort of societal attachment to you that results in them not just tossing your entire generation into a metaphorical woodchipper, because taking care of old people is a ton of work. The traditional way to ensure that such…

Exponential growth is unsustainable in the long term. Eventually we will have to come up with an alternative, might as well do it now.

This has nil bearing on exponential growth by virtue that the fertility rate in the West is stagnant. Countries with high fertility rates tend to be more impoverished.

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#116
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it'll make a big difference. We're already at the point where people only have kids when they want to. It might reduce some accidents but I think that's good. Not nice for a child to be unwanted.

Apparently 45% of US pregnancies are unintended. https://www.brookings.edu/research/preventing-unplanned-preg...

45% of an already low fertility rate.

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#117
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it'll make a big difference. We're already at the point where people only have kids when they want to. It might reduce some accidents but I think that's good. Not nice for a child to be unwanted.

Apparently 45% of US pregnancies are unintended. https://www.brookings.edu/research/preventing-unplanned-preg...

That's a lot.. That means there's a lot of room for improvement. I don't think we as a society should want anyone eto have unwanted babies.

I'm pretty sure this will be much lower in Europe though, as we have much less taboos on sexual education.

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oral contraceptives are not as comfortable and easy to use as condoms, which are available everywhere. Taking drugs just to avoid pregnacy would be an alternative probably for people in relationships (instead of sometimes problematic womens contraceptives) and for people doing a lot of casual sex (who probably already use condoms/woman are on hormonal contraception).

This is not condoms vs not condoms. Condom use prevents the spread of STDs. Birth control helps prevent the spread of unwanted children and abortions. I don't find condoms comfortable at all and I'm married, so STDs are not my concern. Another kid is.

> Condom use prevents the spread of STDs. Birth control helps prevent the spread of unwanted children and abortions.

Condoms do both. They are 97% effective if used properly, which isn't hard.

I think "perfect use" of the pill is more difficult, consequently I think the true failure rate is higher. The implants are very effective though.

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Women should have the option to control their own bodies - that means allowing birth control and abortion. It's also patriarchy at work that men would never tolerate even 1/10th of the risks women face in preventing pregnancy. Look at the responses to getting a small injection - "nobody would ever do that"! Hormonal birth control is great for some women, but terrible for others. It can also cause suicidality, but the…

> It's also patriarchy at work that men would never tolerate even 1/10th of the risks women face in preventing pregnancy. Based on what, anecdotes and your projection? Anecdotally many men have voiced that if they could endure the pain of childbirth in place of their wives, they would. But I suppose that doesn't fit the narrative.

OP is talking about preventing pregnancy not about sharing the pain or risks in pregnancy. Of course a lot of men would share these with their partner.

Women simply have a much higher incentive to prevent pregnancy because they are much more affected by pregnancy. The worst thing that happens for a man is that they have to pay alimony. Women face the risks of pregnancy and birth or an abortion.

Re: New Male Birth Control Pill Effectively Prevents Pregnancy Without Side Effects

#120
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a decline but a stabilisation. That's really what's needed to make our planet sustainable. Right now the absolute worst thing you can do for the environment is to have a child as a westerner. And we're not hoping for loss of life. Just a more balanced population in the long term. We can't keep growing until every square meter of this planet is covered with people, I'm sure that's clear. Eventually resources will…

> Right now the absolute worst thing you can do for the environment is to have a child as a westerner. Just out of curiosity, are you also opposed to immigration from third world countries into first world ones?

No I'm not. I am opposed to unlimited immigration though due to the shock effect on society.
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