Well, well, well, if it isn't a slightly inconvenient solution to not bringing an unwanted baby into the world: the male pill is nearly here. Just like 'women's football' and 'female presenters', this pill is prefixed with the word 'male' to signal that it's not the normal one, it's something different – a bit wacky even!
A revelation in the world of health and science – a new on-demand, non-hormonal male contraceptive pill is in progress. The pill stops sperm from being able to swim for several hours – long enough to stop them reaching the egg. While more tests are needed (we've heard that before), the idea is that men can take the pill an hour before sex to prevent conception. The best part is, unlike the female pill, the male version doesn't mess with their hormones at all. Not like muscle-enhancing steroids or anything. It won't make them fat, sad or feel emotionally dysregulated like the one for the girlies. It also won't cause breast tenderness, nausea, headaches and occasionally cancer. So that's a perk!
For people who enjoy sex, but don't want to become parents, this is good news no? Apparently not. Reactions to the news on Twitter have been nothing short of varied. One user articulately offered his perspective, saying: 'Bruh this male contraception pill is the stupidest thing ever. Cause as soon as the man takes it they gotta have sex within 3 hrs to have that 91% of it working. Literally most unattractive thing is planned and forced sex. This pill will do more damage than good.' It turns out contraception is unattractive and, worse still, damaging to sexy vibes. Who knew?
Another user, who's verified for that matter, sees the positive side. He wrote, 'I’m all for a male contraceptive pill. 1. Until it exists, women have a power men don’t. A power women clearly can’t be trusted with considering the happy accidents that result in child support. 2. This will reduce the no. of abortions significantly.' There are progressives aplenty on Twitter when news like this breaks.
Of course, it's not just men who have been weighing in on the news. Many women are concerned that men can't be trusted to actually take the pill, because it's such an inconvenience! One woman said 'you would have to be 'brain dead' to rely on a male for preventing a pregnancy...' Another wrote: 'Anything that gives men control over whether they could get someone pregnant is good, but this isn't going to be appealing to many. Requires planning, short-lasting. No gamechanger.' You might be mistaken for thinking the burden of avoiding pregnancy has fallen on women since the dawn of time, but you'd be wrong. It's actually us that have held all the power – and we get to keep it on our bedside table and take it every morning.
Rather than celebrating the development of a male pill as a long-awaited mark of sexual equality, some men agree that this news is a freedom siren. The user @suffragent_ says it means men 'finally control the outcome of their sexual encounters' and have 'relationship freedom'. We're sorry we've held you back for so long, Peter.
Concerned men and women can rest assured, the pill is still in the early stages of development. In the early study in mice, funded by the US National Institutes of Health and published in the journal Nature Communications, a single dose of the drug immobilised sperm before, during and after mating. The effect lasted for around three hours. By 24 hours, it appeared to have fully worn off with the next batch of sperm swimming normally.
While some people have rightfully noted that human men don't biologically resemble mice all that much, one of the scientists, Dr Melanie Balbach from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, said the male pill shows promise as a reversible, easy-to-use contraceptive. There's still a long way to go before this pill hits the shelves and, sadly, it doesn't seem like the queue will be very long when it does.