Birth Control For Boys WILL GUYS GO FOR THE MALE PILL? by Sarah Curtis-Fawley graphic by Michelle Fields It was a late Thursday night when I called many of my male friends, interrupting card games and Jay Leno. "Hey, what's up?" they innocently asked. When I told them I was writing an article about the male birth control pill, I could almost hear them wince through the telephone line. "So, if the male Pill were safe and effective with few side effects, would you use it?" I inquired. "No way. Never," was the typical response. My oh-so-sensitive and hip male friends were quick to say that no, birth control wasn't necessarily a "woman's thing," but that they didn't want to mess with their "boys." "I mean, if I were on the Pill my body would be like -- Holy shit! My sperm!" It seems that some men have a special attachment to their sperm count, and without their little flagellating friends they would feel, well, lost. When the birth control pill hit the market 35 years ago, it ushered in an era of unprecedented sexual freedom. No longer reliant on men to carry and actually use condoms, women were able to control their fertility. Jessica Arnold, a Peer Health Educator who counsels women about birth control options, said that most women decide to use the Pill because they "don't want to rely on the man to use a condom. Most women are embarrassed to ask men to use one." While early versions of the Pill contained as much as 150 micrograms of estrogen, leading to increased risk of blood clots, pulmonary embolisms, heart attacks, and strokes, today's slimmed-down version has only 20-30 micrograms of the hormone. Nearly 65 million women around the world use the Pill as their primary form of birth control, and with a failure rate of only three to six percent, it remains one of the most effective ways to prevent pregnancy. And yet despite the marvels of the Pill, there is still a sense of unease among the women who use it. "Every single morning I swallow the Pill and wonder what the hell I am doing to my body," said one third-year student who has been on the Pill since she was 18. The Pill may grant sexually active couples the joy of convenient, spontaneous, non-messy (relatively speaking) sex. But at what cost? The "minor" side effects of the Pill include weight gain, depression, and headaches. The long-term effects of the Pill are still not clear, and there is evidence that the Pill may increase the risk of breast cancer. My sperm-advocating friend who declared he would never consider the male Pill said that there is no reason to market this kind of contraceptive, since the female Pill works -- why fix it if it ain't broken, huh? "The female Pill is natural," he said. What's natural, that women take full responsibility for birth control? This perception may change in the near future. Currently there are only three options in terms of "male" birth control. The condom is seen as a party-pooper and has a 3-15% failure rate. Withdrawal may seem like a good idea at the time, but it is basically a risky game of Russian roulette. And vasectomy is, well, pretty drastic. Seeking to increase the contraceptive methods available to men, researchers at several pharmaceutical firms are successfully developing a male Pill that some say will be on the market in about five years. Dr. Ronald Swerdloff of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center has proclaimed, "We're at the stage where we know the goal is attainable." Current research at the Rockefeller Foundation is focused on the epididymis, which has been likened to "boot camp" for sperm cells. (Ah, men and their military terminology!) When sperm arrive at Camp Epididymis, they aren't able to swim fast and can't scout out an egg, let alone accomplish the mission at hand. After a week or two of training, the little Privates undergo a chemical process that matures them into fully developed cells. The male birth control pill would interrupt this process by blocking certain proteins necessary for maturation. Other scientists are exploring the use of a pill consisting of testosterone and progestin. Eight Italian men were given this form of the Pill, and in every case sperm counts were reduced to levels which would be considered infertile. A large-scale study conducted by the World Health Organization tested a contraceptive injection on 400 men in nine countries. The injection was found to be 99 percent effective, which is the same rate as the female contraceptive injection, Depo-Provera. Yet despite the success of these pilot studies, the researchers are not confident as to the marketability of the male Pill or injectable contraceptive. "The focus has certainly been on contraceptives for women. That has been the traditional way that drug companies and scientists have developed contraceptive methods," said one researcher. Pharmaceutical companies resist pouring money into the research and development of the male Pill, as they believe that men would not be willing to take daily pills and that the general population believes women should take responsibility for birth control. Currently the total federal budget for male contraceptive studies is only $3.75 million, a paltry sum compared with the estimated $100 million necessary to perfect the male Pill. However, drug companies may underestimate America's willingness to try new things when it comes to sex. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey of 503 men found that 66 percent would be willing to try the male Pill. Although initially resistant to my questions about the male Pill, one fourth-year student said that most guys would probably rather "take a pill than wear a condom." Third-year Jeff Jenkins said, "I think it's a good idea. Men need to carry more of the responsibility for birth control." Another barrier to the success of the male Pill is women's faith in men's ability to assume the weighty responsibility of controlling fertility. In an on-line forum discussing the male Pill one skeptic wrote, "It's not like a condom, which a woman can't help but notice. The woman would have to trust the man not once, but three times: that he's on the Pill; that he's taken it that day; and that he'd taken it every day for some time before they had sex." Because it is ultimately women who become pregnant, "Responsibility for contraception becomes a matter of self-interest," he concludes. And yet why do so many men trust that their female partners are actually taking the Pill? If women really mistrust their male partners that much, I wonder why they are having sex with men in the first place. Asserting that women are to blame for men's feeling as if they can't take more responsibility for birth control highlights the need for increased research and development of male contraceptives. Joseph Hall, a biochemist at North Carolina State University, is working on yet another form of the male Pill. Hall's research has lasted over ten years, and is focused on "blinding" sperm so that they can't find the egg and achieve fertilization. When asked why he became interested in this topic, he says that after having six children, his wife challenged him to develop a male Pill. In the quest towards sexual equality, I suppose six children is as good an impetus as any.

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