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This Male Birth Control Pill has Just Been Shown Safe in Humans for the First Time:
For years, scientists have been trying to develop a safe and effective version of the pill for men, and a new drug candidate could be the contraceptive we've been looking for.
This week, scientists in the US announced that an experimental oral drug called 11-beta-MNTDC looks to be safe and tolerable, based on results from a phase 1 clinical trial involving 40 men.
"Our results suggest that this pill, which combines two hormonal activities in one, will decrease sperm production while preserving libido," says male reproduction biologist Christina Wang from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed).
[...] 11-beta-MNTDC is a modified form of testosterone with both progestational (in effect, sperm-blocking) and androgenic (hormone-balancing) characteristics.
Before you get your hopes up too much, this was strictly a test for toleration; further studies are required to test efficacy.
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Tuesday March 26 2019, @09:47PM (26 children)
Paradox of choice; already too many options out there.
No barrier for STDs so useless for casual dating sex, girl has to trust the guy way too much for casual sex anyway.
For mostly monogamous couples there's already so many options I'm struggling to think of the situation. When all else fails is a pretty long list.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday March 26 2019, @10:01PM (6 children)
Point I was gonna make : which girl is going to trust a guy that swears he took the pill, when it's his pleasure but her risk ?
Also, after getting snipped, men still output swimmers for almost two months. That's a long time ... trust me.
Also :
> will decrease sperm production while preserving libido
Objective as stated is road to failure :
To be successful, it has to Definitely stop sperm production, while Dramatically increasing libido and erections.
Outside of long-term couples medically prevented from using other options, and maybe men really dedicated to avoid "accidents", I don't see much of a market.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by Mykl on Wednesday March 27 2019, @02:51AM (5 children)
It's an edge-case, but I personally know two guys who had casual sex with women who lied about being on the pill so they could get pregnant. They then enjoyed the pleasure of 18 years of child support for being an unwitting sperm donor.
Granted, they were stupid to not be using STD protection (e.g. condoms) in the first place, but there is a use-case for the guy who doesn't want to be a baby-daddy.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @05:36AM (4 children)
Make sure you keep some pure capascin oil to put on top of the cream in your spent condom just in case she retrieves it and shoves it back up there in hopes of nailing you for DNA matching if she can trip off her babymaker.
The wails resulting from the capascin experience will let you know she will try such a thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:02AM
You mean, retrieve it *from garbage can* and put it *in there* ? Whoa, buddy, I admire your imagination! I never ever met a woman *that* desperate and non-germophobic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:59PM (2 children)
The solution here is to change the laws so that men have actual rights when it comes to reproduction. It's not going to happen because women don't want any of the responsibilities of being an adult and there's enough cuck bastards out there willing to sell their fellow men out in order to get in good with women. Women, who are pretty mean to men and basically incapable of behaving like adults.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @04:48PM
Wow! Bitter much?
Maybe you should improve your taste in women?
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday March 29 2019, @05:09PM
Or, you know, give men control over their own fertility so that they can play the game on equal footing with pill-liberated women.
If you don't want kids, don't have kids. If you do want kids, then make sure you're engaging in a well-formulated business partnership with a trustworthy woman - traditionally such an partnership was known as "marriage", but that institution has changed somewhat in recent centuries, and there are other options.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Spamalope on Tuesday March 26 2019, @11:14PM
Single guys in a committed relationship that may lead to marriage look like the target market. Avoiding or significantly reducing the risk of birth control sabotage or mistake babies is worth lots. (theoretically used as male & female pills both)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by darkfeline on Wednesday March 27 2019, @03:25AM (11 children)
> girl has to trust the guy way too much for casual sex anyway.
Isn't it the other way around? The girl can revoke consent at any time, including after the fact. The girl can choose whether or not to use birth control or have an abortion, irrespective of the guy's wishes. The girl can garnish the guy's wages, irrespective of any deceit used or ulterior motives harbored. The girl can even send the kid for adoption later without any input from the guy.
At least in most places in the US, maybe other countries have saner laws/implementations of said laws.
It's a bad time to be a guy (male suicide rates rising, male graduation rates, college acceptance rates falling, lots of programs and opportunities for girls and few for guys). That's why the MGTOW movement exists.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by gringer on Wednesday March 27 2019, @04:31AM (3 children)
It sure is a scary time for boys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cFIIj6A1Y4 [youtube.com]
Ask me about Sequencing DNA in front of Linus Torvalds [youtube.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by darkfeline on Wednesday March 27 2019, @06:21AM (2 children)
I can't tell what the point of that song is. I suppose it's was intended to be mocking guys for being afraid of being accused of rape while there are guys who rape girls, but ironically I can't tell if that it in itself supposed to be satire.
Because a guy raping a girl is clearly a crime and I know of no court which would rule otherwise, but at the same time there are men being found guilty of rape despite the supposed victim, her friends, and eyewitnesses all vehemently denying the allegations. One of these is justice for a crime and one of these is blatant sexism and an affront to justice.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 1, Troll) by gringer on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:40AM (1 child)
How about the supreme court of the United States?
In case you missed the start of the video, the song was written in the context of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, in which Professor Christine Blasey Ford reported that she was sexually assaulted by the applicant, and members of congress pointed out that her statements were in part supported by evidence that the applicant freely gave out. The applicant was appointed to the supreme court anyway.
Ask me about Sequencing DNA in front of Linus Torvalds [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday March 27 2019, @08:42PM
They weren't ruling on whether he committed a crime. They were deciding whether to allow him onto the court.
Still a stupid decision, but there's a difference.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @07:02AM
Colleges are increasingly becoming degree mills anyway. There are plenty of jobs (software development) where degrees are not needed but are increasingly required by employers because they are too short-sighted to actually interview people. So, colleges increasingly become more about job training than actual education, in an effort to push out as many paper holders as possible and collect their money.
The entire school system, from the K-12 system to the college system, is utterly abysmal and needs to be completely reformed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @07:08AM
Yes for example in France. It's joked about that DNA paternity tests are illegal but that doesn't mean you get stuck with unwanted offspring.
The offspring of your wife is legally supposed your biologic offspring but it's not your civil offspring unless you claim the child as such without 5 days of birth or later
adopt it.
There is absolutely no risk besides STDs to casual unprotected sex for the man.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:17PM (4 children)
I'll add another danger of leaving birth control up to the woman: she may tell you she's on the pill, and she may be telling you the truth, but she omits telling you that some days she forgets to take it. Oh well! SURPRISE, MOTHAFUCKA!
As a man, unless you are in a marriage with a woman you trust 100%, you simply have to wear a rubber if you stick it in her cooter.
Rubbers are cheap, simple, and work -- IF YOU USE THEM EVERY TIME.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday March 27 2019, @04:06PM (3 children)
Actually, if used every time, and always perfectly, condoms are about 98% effective - pretty good, but they still have a failure rate hundreds of times higher than most female birth control options.
Meanwhile, out here in the real world people aren't perfect, and in practice they're only about 80-85% effective.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @05:06AM (2 children)
As I said in my post (which you responded to): there are some women who can't remember to consistently swallow a pill.
(Don't ask me how I learned.) Men, take responsibility for your reproduction and disease exposure. Wear the rubber every time. Exceptions only during marriage, etc.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday March 28 2019, @07:39AM (1 child)
Sure, but the pill is the only form of female birth control that suffers from that problem. (Well, there's cycle monitoring, but that's so ineffective that it's hardly fair to call it birth control. Better than nothing, but not by much)
It's also one of the least effective forms of (non-mechanical) female birth control, with IUDs, hormone implants, etc. being 10x to 1,000x or more more effective. And even then, the pill (taken properly) is still around 100x more effective than condoms (though some things, like St. John's Wort can neutralize its effectiveness).
Condoms' 2% chance of pregnancy per year is a lot better than the baseline 80%, but a 1-in-50 chance of a completely life-changing outcome is still pretty high for a lot of people's tastes. Especially when you look at how the the risk compounds over time. Use a condom perfectly every time, and there's an 18% chance that you'll father at least one child within 10 years. Use it very-slightly-less-perfectly, for a 95% effectiveness, and that chance jumps to 40%.
They're undeniably the best option currently available for men, but there's lots of room for improvement.
Also, why the exception during marriage? Just because you're married doesn't mean you want to have (more) kids. Birth control within marriage is one of its most important uses - without it you should plan to have a new baby every 12-18 months.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @07:31PM
All your points are taken.
As for why the "in marriage" clause in my email?
You left out the ", etc." part that came immediately after.
I didn't feel like typing out the rest that I trust our Soylent readers could infer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:59PM
Men have two choices right now: condoms or vasectomy.
All other options require them to place their faith in their partner.
It is great for women to have so many choices, but it would be nice if men had a choice that wasn't permanent and didn't affect the "feel" so much.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday March 27 2019, @03:44PM (4 children)
>girl has to trust the guy way too much for casual sex anyway.
You seem to be missing the point that this is a birth control pill for *men*, intended to benefit *men* (though it will also have benefit for women who have problems with the options available to them and trust their partners). Female birth control lets women have sex without fear of pregnancy, and without having to trust their partner. Male birth control does the same for men.
>Paradox of choice; already too many options out there.
Really? What choices are there currently *for men* who want to have sex without risking pregnancy? Vasectomy, condoms, and completely trusting their partner are all I can think of. Only the first is reliably effective, and carries a high risk of causing permanent sterility, so where are you seeing "too many options"?
Condoms are obviously the only option for STD protection, and are thus recommended for casual sex, but they're not actually all that reliable at preventing pregnancy. For an sexually active couple they reduce the rate of pregnancy from around 80%/year for unprotected sex, to around 15-20%. They also interfere quite a bit with enjoyment by both parties, so are generally an unsatisfying solution in every respect. Doubly so when you're in an exclusive relationship where STDs are not a significant concern, but don't completely trust your partner.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @05:14AM (3 children)
If you use a condom every time, as you yourself said in an earlier post, the effectiveness rate is very high.
Look, I know you don't WANT to use a rubber -- nobody does. But don't run it down with bogus effectiveness numbers because of that.
Your arguing that condoms are not that effective because people don't use them every time is like arguing seat belts are a crummy safety device because they don't work unless you wear them. Well, I guess.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday March 28 2019, @07:15AM (2 children)
No, using a condom every time isn't enough - you must use it perfectly every time. That means it must fit perfectly, be put on perfectly, not be accidentally nicked by a fingernail or corner of the foil wrapper, not be broken by excessive friction, nor slide during the fun around to eliminate the "bubble" on the tip, and you must pull out instantly after ejaculating.
Any departure from that, and the effectiveness is reduced.
Plus, even if you always use it perfectly, there's still about a 1-in-50 chance per year of pregnancy (they're about 98% effective under ideal circumstances). Compare that to the typically 1-in-10,000 or lower chance of pregnancy from properly using most female birth control. Condoms are a LOT better than nothing, but are still an unacceptably high risk for a lot of people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @07:41PM (1 child)
As a service to the rest of our Soylent readers, proper condom usage is not to pull out "instantly" after ejaculation, but rather place your index finger and your middle finger to either side of the penis after final ejaculation, pulling up on the base of the condom. Withdraw before you become soft. Within 3 seconds is plenty. Wash off penis and hands.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday March 29 2019, @04:32PM
Good point, and well worth clarifying.
But that's still pretty "instant" compared to other birth control methods. It also severely interferes with the afterglow or a second lap. And it may be difficult, emotionally and even physically, if your partner is lost in the throes of her own (impending) orgasm.
All in all, a lousy way to end an otherwise good time.