ColumnIn our society, pregnancy prevention is seen as women’s work. It’s time to talk about the big V: Vasectomy.

If you’re eager to freak out the average American man, suggest he consider getting a vasectomy.

Despite reports that about one out of five men over 35 have had a vasectomy, most men aren’t eager to chat about it.

When my husband was looking into the getting a vasectomy, he learned that a number of his friends had already done it — he had no idea.

As it turns out, most men don’t sit around comparing notes about pregnancy prevention. Which is not just their loss but society’s. How much have we learned from our friends about birth control? Tons. That’s how much.

Fast Facts About Vasectomy

Let’s get this out of the way: No one is cutting anyone’s balls off, and the procedure is not at all the same as castration.

Despite those facts, vasectomies are very often talked about in emasculating terms.

Even a man who has had one might say, “My wife made me,” to avoid any implication that he would voluntarily have his testicles messed with.

A vasectomy is a relatively simple, one-time, 30-minute-ish procedure that, I have heard, is decidedly not pleasant but also not the end of the world.

I can tell you from personal experience that once the swelling goes down, there is no noticeable difference in form or function of said balls or anything, ahem, near the ball area. One out of one of my husbands agrees.

While vasectomies can sometimes be reversed, the procedure is only recommended for people who are certain that they don’t want children. If you are 99 percent sure but want to cover all of your bases, you could consider freezing some sperm.

Who Gets Vasectomies?

In the U.S., vasectomies are mostly performed on white men with money, education and health insurance.

The reasons are complicated and, like women’s reproductive health options, have a lot to do with access and education.

Recently, I spoke with family physician and reproductive health activist Dr. Mandy L. Gittler about the big socioeconomic and racial gap when it comes to vasectomies.

Mandy heads up Planned Parenthood of Illinois’ vasectomy program. There, she sees primarily uninsured patients. “If you are poor and can’t afford to have or don’t want kids, there’s no one at Cook County Hospital [where most Chicago-area people without insurance end up getting health care] doing vasectomies. I have — and will — speak ad nauseum about this problem.”

As a reproductive rights activist and women’s health doctor who took out a life insurance policy when she became a mom, Mandy sees a strong tie between abortion and access to vasectomies.

More vasectomies = fewer abortions, she says. And, isn’t that a goal people on both sides of the debate can agree on?

Additionally, Mandy points out, there is a very clear correlation between violence and unplanned pregnancy. Which is just one more great reason to increase access and talk more about this procedure — which is nearly 100 percent effective in stopping unplanned pregnancies.

We need a “Real Men Get Vasectomies” campaign. We could see if Ryan Gosling has time in his schedule for both feminism and vasectomies, but I think we can do better.

With this week’s awesome reaction (essentially: ”no big”) to Michael Sam’s gay draft day smooch, maybe the NFL can lend us a superstar athlete to inspire men to take charge of their own reproductive choices.

There are lots of great opportunities for catchy hashtags here. I’ll start:
#GrowAPairRealMenGetVaesctomies
#HaveTheBallsToControlYourReproductiveChoices
#BeingAFatherIsYourChoice

That Happened is Libby Lowe’s weekly column for EcoSalon analyzing media, news and pop culture through a feminist lens. Keep in touch with Libby @LibbyLowe.

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Childfree By Choice: That Happened

Image: Adapted from Dana Robinson, Creative Commons

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A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

Our sex lives are governed by a host of factors— some are external and beyond our control, while others are products of our own choices. This week’s edition of Sex by Numbers takes a look some of the influencers of our sexual selves.

37%: Percentage of births in the U.S. that are a result of unplanned pregnancies. According to the CDC, the number—which has been rising since the mid-1990s—is owed to a number of diverse factors.

3 vs 6: When male participants in study were asked to judge if 3 months and 6 months seemed “very short” or “very long” distances from the present, they were more impatient after being shown sexual imagery, proving that sexual arousal heightens not just our immediate desire, but our overall perception of time as well.

3,518: Number of commenters on user-generated site Reddit that responded to a pleading thread entitled “Ladies, please help us male Redditors out: What is the best way to approach you in public if we’re interested in you?”

7: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, seven categories of preventative medical services for women—including mammograms, screenings for cervical cancer, prenatal care, and birth control—will no longer require a co-pay and will be fully covered by insurance.

500mg: Amount of caffeine contained in some energy drinks (the equivalent to 6 cups of coffee), which researchers have found makes individuals more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior when consumed in combination with alcohol.

$3: Cost of a pregnancy test for sale in the bathroom of a Minnesota bar, which is intended to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome by reminding women they could, in fact, be pregnant while drinking the beer they just ordered.

1 Touch: San Francisco based organization One Touch is trying, er, single-handedly to rectify the masculinity crisis by reviving the art of the female orgasm. Their goal is to influence men to “learn orgasmic meditation and everything that goes with it” so they can be of better service to females.

57%: Percentage of 12 to 14 year old adolescents for whom movies and media serve as their main source of sexual information. A study published in Psychological Science found that exposure to sexually explicit content through film was a driver in early adolescent sexual activity.

Image: Lotus Carroll

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A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

What a week it’s been for sex. We got to hear Rush Limbaugh apologize to “sluts” and it turns out everyone in your yoga class is doing it.

Here’s a few more sex statistics and facts for you this week:

Cost of a year’s supply of hormonal birth control: $160-$600

Average cost of a condom: <$1

Two: number of states that have eliminated their family planning programs within the last year

130,000: low-income Texan women who stand to lose Medicare-funded contraception and examination coverage as a result of the latest round of state budget cuts

$231 million: projected financial burden to state and federal taxpayers as a result of the 20,500 estimated additional babies that will be born as a result

1/4: women of reproductive age who receive health and contraceptive assistance through a publicly supported family planning center

51 to 48: vote on the Blunt Amendment, which failed to clear the Senate last week and would have allowed employers to withhold contraceptive coverage from employees’ health plans

The post Sex by Numbers: An Aspirin a Day appeared first on EcoSalon.

Why condemn the condom? Lately, male prophylactics and their packaging have come under scrutiny as an environmental menace, just one more tiny – albeit commonly used – item to clog our landfills. In 2005, 10.4 billion male condoms were used worldwide. That’s one small mountain of rubbers. Yet for those who are committed to shrinking their daily trash heap, chucking the condom in an effort to go green could potentially have the opposite effect.

In an interview with Bitch Magazine about contraception, Laura Eldridge, a women’s health writer, said this about the male condom, “with the barrier methods we have the issue of waste”¦A latex condom probably won’t biodegrade – but a polyurethane one or a synthetic rubber one definitely won’t – they are just with us forever.”

And on Columbia University’s online Q&A health service called Go Ask Alice, a student wonders if there’s an eco-friendly way to have safe sex, asking “is there a condom that is biodegradable?”

Just the Facts, Ma’am

Let’s get a couple of things straight. Most male condoms are made of latex, a natural substance from rubber trees. While latex is biodegradable, the jury is out on whether condoms will decompose, since they’re also made with stabilizers, preservatives, and hardening agents. Polyurethane prophylactics, or plastic condoms, won’t biodegrade. Nor are they recyclable. Lambskin condoms, which are made from the intestinal membrane of a lamb, will decompose. But they won’t protect you from STIs.

Though there’s no research on how long it takes condoms to biodegrade, sexperts and environmentalists alike recommend tossing latex condoms in the trash or in the compost bin rather than flushing them down the toilet. Latex won’t disintegrate in water. And The Ocean Conservancy has warned [pdf] that condoms found along coastal beaches indicate poor water quality.

The Single Most Important Environmental Innovation

So what’s a sexually active environmentalist to do? Keep using condoms. Why? Because, in spite of their bad rap, condoms are “the single most important environmental innovation,” according to Hank Green, a blogger at EcoGeek.org. “Condoms aren’t solar powered or reusable or even recyclable, but they’ve made the environmental revolution possible. As simple birth control continues its spread across the globe, it leaves behind happier healthier societies with significantly less impact on the planet. That is the power of true innovation.”

All that hazardous condom debris we’ve been reading about? In the scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. Not when an unplanned pregnancy can derail a career or a family. Not when opting not to have a child means you’re doing something 20 times more effective than recycling. In fact, by 2015, even more condoms will be needed – an estimated 18 million for low and middle income countries alone – to protect against pregnancy and STIs. So pile “˜em on. (Er, actually, don’t. One condom alone is more effective than two.)

Image: meddygarnet

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