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The Economics of Male Birth Control

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Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#31

Post by LesZedCB »

caio1982 wrote: post #21
LesZedCB wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that's actually true for most use cases, though. I think for most people it offers security for the male only. People always want to keep their own sexual health under their own control. I would be hesitant to say that most sex happens in relationships between two long-term exclusive partners. Therefore, there would be many people still interested in taking the daily pill or other birth control options for th…

Well, that was one reason only. I'd include myself in the group of paranoid sexual partners too, by the way. Still, I believe the economical incentive is missing here, as the industry might just think there are plenty of crappy alternatives and yet people complain very little about not having a male pill. Why would they bother in cannibalizing their own products then?

They currently make $0 per year from males. I don't pay for my SO's birth control. I asked her if she would stop taking hers and she said no. Interestingly, she's no longer on daily pill, but a method that's effective for 3 years. There's also the IUD which lasts as long as Vasalgel, though is pretty invasive. Those option exist for women, but they are afraid to cannabalize their own product? I'm not convinced those numbers add up.

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#32

Post by adekok »

jakejake wrote: post #19

I would not be surprised at this scenario - her: do you have protection? him: um, sure. I'm taking that, uh, that pill thing. I can't help but think a male contraceptive that is not visually verifiable by the women is not entirely trustworthy. Perhaps in committed relationships, but not for casual sex. I'm sure we're all nice guys here, but men in general are not exactly known for being trustworthy when they're drunk…

> I can't help but think a male contraceptive that is not visually verifiable by the women is not entirely trustworthy.

Uh... how is that different from what we have today? Women take a pill. It's not visually verifiable by men.

Surely you can't object to the idea that men have the same choices about the pill as women do?

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#33

Post by pc86 »

caio1982 wrote: post #15

I think this part nails it: "Any new product they could introduce would be likely to cannibalize their existing products. After all, one reason for a man to want to use a reversible contraceptive is so his partner can stop taking the pill." Little economical incentive to cannibalize its own market. That makes so much more sense than conspiracy theories preventing this from happening. I disregard real "scientific barr…

There are plenty of women who are incapable or unwilling to take hormonal birth control, and thus rely on the male (e.g. my wife). Of course some couples would swap out one method for another, but the idea that introducing a new product to market would result in a net loss is ludicrous.

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#34

Post by breischl »

DanBC wrote: post #27
jakejake wrote: post #19

I would not be surprised at this scenario - her: do you have protection? him: um, sure. I'm taking that, uh, that pill thing. I can't help but think a male contraceptive that is not visually verifiable by the women is not entirely trustworthy. Perhaps in committed relationships, but not for casual sex. I'm sure we're all nice guys here, but men in general are not exactly known for being trustworthy when they're drunk…

For casual sex people should be using two methods of contraception, and one of those should be a standards-compliant condom. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nearly-half-a-million-new... https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hiv-infections-continue-t... etc

>>standards-compliant condom

Wait, there's a standard for that? What is it, ISO-69? Did they also standardize the different sizes and textures?

Regardless, I bet it was an interesting working group.

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#35

Post by LesZedCB »

souljaswag wrote: post #25
jakejake wrote: post #19

I would not be surprised at this scenario - her: do you have protection? him: um, sure. I'm taking that, uh, that pill thing. I can't help but think a male contraceptive that is not visually verifiable by the women is not entirely trustworthy. Perhaps in committed relationships, but not for casual sex. I'm sure we're all nice guys here, but men in general are not exactly known for being trustworthy when they're drunk…

I am though. maybe we can make a website where we "verify" if people are trustworthy before drunken hookups. tryna take home a dude at the bar? just verifyhim we can even call it verifyhim. scan his fingerprint on your iphone and/or use your cameraphone to scan his eyes to verify if he was using the man pill last time he hooked up.

I've heard of that idea before. It wouldn't work for many reasons, the main being "cache invalidation." i.e. it becomes obsolete as soon as somebody has another sexual partner. And at that point, you're trusting users to just update it.

That doesn't even mention the privacy issues involved.

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#36

Post by bradleyjg »

caio1982 wrote: post #15

I think this part nails it: "Any new product they could introduce would be likely to cannibalize their existing products. After all, one reason for a man to want to use a reversible contraceptive is so his partner can stop taking the pill." Little economical incentive to cannibalize its own market. That makes so much more sense than conspiracy theories preventing this from happening. I disregard real "scientific barr…

Not necessarily. If your existing market is generics at $0.10/pill and your new market is brand name at $1/pill that's well worth cannibalizing.

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#37

Post by noxToken »

souljaswag wrote: post #25
jakejake wrote: post #19

I would not be surprised at this scenario - her: do you have protection? him: um, sure. I'm taking that, uh, that pill thing. I can't help but think a male contraceptive that is not visually verifiable by the women is not entirely trustworthy. Perhaps in committed relationships, but not for casual sex. I'm sure we're all nice guys here, but men in general are not exactly known for being trustworthy when they're drunk…

I am though. maybe we can make a website where we "verify" if people are trustworthy before drunken hookups. tryna take home a dude at the bar? just verifyhim we can even call it verifyhim. scan his fingerprint on your iphone and/or use your cameraphone to scan his eyes to verify if he was using the man pill last time he hooked up.

Yes, because I'm sure tons of people will line up to have their fingerprint/eye pattern associated with contraception and their last potential hookup in a 3rd party database. What could go wrong?

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#38

Post by solutionyogi »

jakejake wrote: post #19

I would not be surprised at this scenario - her: do you have protection? him: um, sure. I'm taking that, uh, that pill thing. I can't help but think a male contraceptive that is not visually verifiable by the women is not entirely trustworthy. Perhaps in committed relationships, but not for casual sex. I'm sure we're all nice guys here, but men in general are not exactly known for being trustworthy when they're drunk…

I don't know why you are getting downvoted, I upvoted you. A big positive for using condom is that it's easily verifiable by the other partner. However, I can imagine that there is another big market where partners are in a trusted relationship (either marriage or live in partner) and would like to use male contraception.

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#39

Post by AlexEatsKittens »

anigbrowl wrote: post #28
stevenmays wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh. The counterpoint. Her: I'm on the pill. Him: Okay. 9 months later we find out she lied. Both men and women should have access to contraceptives. Saying that one gender is less trust worthy then another is ridiculous.

Possible, but if you want us to the ignore the hugely differing economic incentives for men and women wrt pregnancy then the discussion isn't going to go anywhere.

>Possible, but if you want us to the ignore the hugely differing economic incentives for men and women wrt pregnancy then the discussion isn't going to go anywhere.

What possible incentive is there for a man to impregnate a woman, especially without her desire? I don't think many guys are out there begging to pay child support.

Re: The Economics of Male Birth Control

#40

Post by tomp »

caio1982 wrote: post #15

I think this part nails it: "Any new product they could introduce would be likely to cannibalize their existing products. After all, one reason for a man to want to use a reversible contraceptive is so his partner can stop taking the pill." Little economical incentive to cannibalize its own market. That makes so much more sense than conspiracy theories preventing this from happening. I disregard real "scientific barr…

> Little economical incentive to cannibalize its own market.

Wait, what? Couldn't you interpret that as a new company/startup entering an existing market? "Little economical incentive for Samsung to cannibalize on Apple's market."

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