Thank you, Vera. Yes, it's sooo disheartening to run
into that "aw c'mon, men won't do it..." attitude.
Considering the financial and other consequences to a
man of an unwanted pregnancy, people who do not think
he will be mindful of things like
injectable/pill-based male contraceptive methods just
are not paying attention!

----------------
> Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 19:25:14 -0400
> From: Vera Zlidar <vzlidar@...>
> Subject: Re: Digest Number 29
>
> Hey folks,
>
> My understanding is that WHO is in phase III trials
> with DMPA +
> testosterone for men in Indonesia. According to a
> guy I met at a
> conference who was doing research on the
> acceptability of this method,
> WHO is "tinkering" with the doseage, trying to get
> maximum protection
> from one injection. (If anyone is interested about
> how Indonesian
> couples feel about the method, abstract available
> at:
>
http://paa2002.princeton.edu/abstractViewer.asp?submissionId=60823)
>
> Re: why male method research is going so slowly.
> From a biological
> standpoint, my reproductive biology profs have
> always maintained that
> it's a lot easier to prevent pregnancy when you only
> have to do it once
> a month -- e.g., prevent ovulation or implantation--
> as opposed to
> suppressing a constant process (sperm production).
>
> While biology does play a role, there is a HUGE bias
> in the research
> community about male methods. People still run
> around saying things like
> "oh, men will never want to adopt a pill or
> injection" when that's a
> load of BS. WHO about 1.5 or 2 years ago did a
> multi-country male method
> acceptability study, and the results were positive:
> Men were
> overwhelmingly likely to say that they would be
> interested in trying out
> a male method. Even in traditional, "macho"-type
> cultures. So when
> people say "men will never go for it," they're just
> buying into
> stereotypes about how all men are irresponsible
> jerks, etc etc etc. Of
> course, I remember reading the news article about
> the study and the lead
> paragraph was how surprised the reporter was to find
> out that many men
> are responsible human beings and want to take an
> active role in
> pregnancy prevention. So it really is a widespread
> thing. (A colleague
> of mine even said that when she floated a PhD
> dissertation topic of the
> acceptability of male methods at a top public health
> university, the
> female professor who was her advisor said "Oh, men
> will NEVER want to go
> for something like that. Don't waste your time."
> [yes, I screamed in
> anger, and made sure that said colleague forwarded
> the above WHO study
> to this prof, in the hopes that she get her head out
> of her a$$])
>
> So, if you're Huge Pharmaceutical Firm A, are you
> really want to going
> to invest in R&D, three phases of clinical trials,
> FDA approval,
> marketing, and sales on a method that, in their
> minds, has tremendously
> limited demand? I mean, traditional pharmaceutical
> firms in the US are
> totally ignoring microbicide development, leaving it
> to universities and
> non-profits like the Population Council 'cause they
> feel the profit
> margin for microbicides is too small.
>
> Personally, if I was male, I would devote my life to
> advocating the
> development of hormonal, reversible, male
> contraceptive methods. I know
> one too many men who have been "ooopsed" by women,
> and it's a shame that
> men have such limited options. Condoms are only
> about 85% effective as
> typically used. I'm sorry, but those are odds I
> would NOT want to go
> with. The only other option is vasectomy, which is
> only appropriate when
> men do not want any more children. Not a lot of
> choice.
>
> Some random articles for your viewing pleasure...
> Why Male Contraception isn't on the Radar Screen
> (editorial)
>
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/176_05_040302/han10001.html
>
> A 1999 paper on where they are with male methods:
>
http://matweb.hcuge.ch/endo/Lectures_9th_PGC/Mbizvo.htm
>
> You can probably search on the methods Mbizvo covers
> to see where they
> are now. Medline or Popline would have abstracts of
> the articles, for
> certain.
>
> cheers,
> Vera
>
>

=====
If animals could speak English, would we be eating them?
-------- http://www.mygem.net/justiceforall/ -----------

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