Why is there no “birth control” for men? Women have multiple options; pill, IUD, etc. But for men, we only have options like a vasectomy or condoms, spermicide lube. Is there a reason why there hasn’t been a “birth control pill” for men?
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No easily manipulated hormone or other chemical process has been identified as a target for manipulation. Suppressing testosterone has dramatic side effects which are completely undesirable.
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BC generally disrupts the reproductive cycle in some way, like tricking it into thinking it’s already pregnant.
The male reproductive system is relatively simple and short. There aren’t many steps to disrupt, everything is pretty close together and straight forward. Sperm is produced constantly and then sent off a few inches later. There’s no built in off switch to stop sperm production if pregnant since it’s not an issue for guys.
Female reproductive system is highly complex with many different movements, responses, etc. it can be disrupted by many things, stress, diet, pregnancy, any one of a few organs not working properly. There’s way more steps that can be exploited to disrupt it.
What is more fragile, A slingshot made of just some wood, a projectile, and some stretchy bits, or a mechanical Swiss watch?
There have actually been a bunch of try for a male birth control, it literally keeps getting shot down because of side effects like migraines and stuff
the issue is that unlike with Women where their cycle is controlled hormonally and its fairly regular hence offering a point that can be manipulated, men have a constant hormonal state(think of it as ,not having an off switch).
take the birth control pill for instance, the way it works for women is by effectively trciking the body to beleive its already “pregnant”: this supressses the menstrual cycle since, as far as the body knows there is no point, you are already pregnant. this is techincally a natural state(as on a natural pregnancy there is no menstruation) hence there are no noteworthy sideffects under normal situations.
for men this entry point doesnt exist. you could in theory influence the hormonal balance to acheive somethnig similar, but because this is not a Natural state the body treats this as “something is wrong” which can lead to a number of side effects.
afaik there were tests for a pill for men, but they got termniated due to the dangers of the side effects whihc created situations like massive mood swings whihc were as extreme as introducing a risk of suicide.
Beleive me: if there was a safe “pill” for men that would be amazing for men that want to av oid the follies of ” babytrapping”.
Because they just haven’t been able to develop one that is effective and that has tolerable side effects yet. There have been some hormonal ones developed that showed to be much less effective than the pill while also having significant side effects, including a significant risk of permanent infertility. Human trials are starting on one that might be effective and relatively side effect free, which stops a certain protein necessary for the process of making sperm. But as of now there simply is no product on the market similar to the pill for men.
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Women have a natural system to shut off ovulation during pregnancy. Many kinds of female birth control tap into this system, basically fooling the body into thinking it’s already pregnant.
Men don’t have an equivalent pre-existing system existing to halt sperm production, so there are fewer easy ways to do birth control.
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Most female birth control does one of 2 things
Stops sperm from getting to it’s destination
Trick the body into thinking it’s already pregnant.
Men have birth control options that do number 1 but they are condoms which we all know and a vascetomy which is a semi permanent solution. That involves minor surgery.
Women have IUD which can basically kill sperm for making it to their destination. But most pills shots etc trick the body into thinking it’s pregnant.
Guys can’t get pregnant. So the only current bc method is to somehow block sperm. Usually done with condoms.
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