Men speak their mind on taking birth control pills
Are Kenyan men interested in taking a more active role in birth-control? Would they be ready to take on the costs and effects of controlling their fertility with, or even in place of, their women?
What you need to know:
Current and promising male contraceptive trials
1. RISUG – Reversible Inhibition of Sperm under guidance, a male contraceptive injection, has been found to be 98 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, doesn’t have any major side effects and could cost as little as $10 in developing countries. After years of successful human trials, it is set for submission for regulatory approval.
2. Vasalgel – a reversible non-hormonal contraceptive likened to a non-scalpel vasectomy. But unlike a vasectomy, if one wishes to restore the flow of sperm, whether after months or years, the polymer is flushed out with another injection.
3. The clean sheet – A hormone-free pill that decreases or eliminates semen emission while leaving the sensation of ejaculation and the pleasure of male orgasm intact. The hope is that this medication can be delivered via pills that men take before sex.
4. Gamendazole – this pill’s trial derives from a cancer treatment that was noted (by chance) to decrease male fertility by interrupting sperm maturation. Men taking the gamendazole pill produce and release normal quantities of sperm, but the sperms are non-functional.
5. Adjudin – this is also derived from a cancer drug and also works by causing sperm to be released while immature. It is administered by injections.
6. JQI – a hormonal gel that blocks production of a protein in the testes that is essential to sperm growth decreases the number of sperm, and those that are produced don’t swim very well. Sex drive remains unaltered, and after the drug is stopped, sperm production rapidly returns to normal.
7. Ultrasound - Doctors have long known that heating the testes even to body temperature reduces fertility. Depending on the level of exposure, contraceptive duration ranges from six weeks to permanent.
8. Testosterone & Progestin – If injected or absorbed through the skin, testosterone alters hormonal messaging and reduces production of sperm. When combined with progestin and rubbed on in gel form, a daily application has effectively suppressed sperm concentration in almost 90 percent of men, with few side effects. Research is exploring the best combination of testosterone and progestin to provide long-acting birth control.
Many women agree that managing birth control can be draining.
“Should I take the pill or get the injection? Hope I remember to take the pill today. This one makes me feel sick! This one makes me gain weight. This one makes my skin break out.
"What if this IUD dislodges? What if this pill fails, I can’t afford to get pregnant now! What if it takes ages to get pregnant after I stop using this? Should I tell him I’m no longer taking it?"
All these questions go through the minds of many a woman using contraceptives. Contraception is widely considered the woman’s role.
ARE KENYAN MEN INTERESTED?
However, there are over a dozen promising clinical trials into the development of male contraceptives, with reports indicating we can hope to have a male pill or injection in the next five years.
Such developments, researchers say, will not only ease the burden off women but will go a long way in controlling an already exploding population.
But are Kenyan men interested in taking a more active role in birth-control? Would they be ready to take on the costs and effects of controlling their fertility with, or even in place of, their women?
We ask 35-year-old Derrick whether he would take a male contraceptive pill. He thinks about it for a few seconds then asks, “Wait a minute, does that mean that I would be shooting blanks?!”
Derrick, who is single but sexually active, goes on to explain his reaction, “You know why I see most men answering no to your question? Because even when a man does not want a child, they still want to know they are fertile. I know a pill does not make me dysfunctional, but still…”
So how does he take responsibility of preventing an unplanned pregnancy, “If I am in a committed relationship, I usually just assume she is responsible enough to be on contraceptives. Otherwise I always use condoms.”
OBLIVIOUS MEN
Mwangi, a 35-year-old single man, listens as we explain about women’s struggles and complications with contraceptives. We ask him whether men feel obligated to step up and share the burden. He says, “I’ll admit, I am not fully conscious of the toll it can take on you girls, probably just because we men are oblivious of women’s body processes.
Personally, what I would consider doing is alternating with her, she goes this month, I go the next. I agree contraception is a two way street but, ideally, I would rather not take a male pill. “ Emmanuel has been married for seven years and has two children.
He rejects the male pill without hesitation: “What is contraception for?” He asks. To prevent pregnancy, we say. “There you have it. It’s the woman who gets pregnant; she is the one to prevent it.” What if she couldn’t take anything due to severe reactions? “To be honest with you, if it got to that point, I would rather abstain, wait for safe days or withdraw.”
BURDEN TO WOMEN
43-year-old Jackson, married with two children, says he would take a male pill only because it meant no one would ever “come out of nowhere and tell me they are pregnant with my child”.
He understands how contraception can be a burden to women, “but what else is she going to do? She has to take responsibility because she is the one getting pregnant and it is her body that is going through all these changes.”
Asked if he would see his responsibility in an unplanned pregnancy, he only states that his responsibility would be ‘negligible’.
Currently in a two year old relationship, 32-year-old Andre insists that women need to understand that having a child “out of the blue” can be just as shocking for the man as it can be for the woman, “sometimes women don’t take time to explain that they are not safe so that the man understands the risks he’s taking.
Truthfully, this is not something we are always conscious of – we expect you to be on top of things in that area. Having said that, I think I would go on contraceptives in my wife’s place if I could, just as a way of giving her breather.”
ROLLER COASTER
“Contraception can be a roller coaster,” says 29-year-old Doreen, mother to a 10-year-old son, “I had severe reactions to most of the methods I tried. Hormonal fluctuations always left me sick with nausea and migraines. Now I am using the once a week pill and I have to put a reminder on my toothpaste holder.
“If I happen to miss a day, I worry that I’m pregnant and anxiously wait for my period. It’s exhausting. It would be a relief to not have to use anything, but I want more children so I can’t use a permanent method until maybe after my third child.” Would she rather her husband was taking the contraceptives?
“Yes, if there was an option other than a condom. If there was a pill, it would be good, but I’m not sure that I’d trust him because he wants a child now and I’m not ready.”
26-year-old Maureen, mother to a six-months-old boy, holds similar sentiments. It’s the first time she is on the shot. “I chose the shot because I am not very good with taking pills consistently. I think it has made me gain weight but I do not have another option. One time when I tried to get my husband to use condoms, he thought I didn’t trust him. If there was a male pill. I’d like him to take it because I do not see why it should be my responsibility alone.”
KEEP NAGGING
31-year-old Rebecca, who is single at the moment, says she has no option but to use a condom. “About a year ago, I was dating for about six months before we stopped using protection. After that, every time we’d have sex, he would ask a million times whether I was safe, or whether I had taken the emergency pill. He would keep nagging.
"It’s almost as if he was saying ‘you better not get pregnant or else! Of course I would take the necessary measures because I did not want to get pregnant either, but the point is, if he was that concerned about pregnancy, why didn’t he just take responsibility and use a condom in the first place?”
46-year-old Lucy, mother to an 18-year-old son, highly advocates for more contraceptive options for men, “I think that with the condom as their only option, men are more open to the emotional and financial burden of unwanted pregnancies. I feel that if a man does not want a baby, he is in some way at the mercy of the woman. I don’t want my son relying on the girls he’s dating for this sort of thing. Condoms can be highly unreliable in the hands of teens and I just think more options for boys would be great.”
In November 2016, a campaign to offer free vasectomies held at the Kenya National Theatre saw a turn-out of just over 100 men. Marie Stopes International-Kenya (MSI) director Fuastina Finn-Nyame was quoted saying that many of the men she consults on the subject worry that they won’t be able to satisfy their wives or that they won’t feel like a man any more.
“But evidence points to the opposite,” she says, “you will have more sexual libido because you will not be anxious about accidental pregnancies.” MSI reports to performing only around 300 vasectomies each year in Kenya compared to thousands of tubal ligations, a surgery that prevents women from becoming pregnant.
