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Stakeholder and Genre Analysis

Stakeholder Analysis

            My project focuses on nonpermanent birth control methods for men. I believe it is important to shed some light on ways that men can actively prevent pregnancy in their relationships. It takes a man and a woman to make a baby; preventing pregnancy should not be the sole responsibility of the woman. However, most men are unaware that soon they will have more options than just condoms. I would like to spread the message that there are new options coming, and end the stereotype that birth control is for women unless it is a condom.

            To do this, I could reach out to a wide variety of groups. Men’s Health magazine, Sexploration at Indiana University are two specific groups that I feel like I could use to really make an impact on people. Most readers of Men’s Health magazine are men, so that would be a direct route. Men’s Health is a stakeholder because they can spread my message and influence readers. The readers could learn from me and choose to use one of the birth control methods themselves, or spread my message further. Men’s Health magazine would be a very good choice to use as a stakeholder.

Sexploration is part of Indiana University’s Health Center. They aim to challenge sexual norms in society through outreach efforts and diverse programs. If I reached out to them, they could set up a program related to my topic, spread my message, and possibly continue to be advocates themselves. The majority of their audience is college students, which is an added bonus. I think reaching young people is important. Younger people deserve to know all of their options before they decide which method they want to stick with. This being the case, I believe Sexploration would be the best stakeholder to contact.

Genre Analysis

            The staff at Men’s Health communicates through email and meetings. Simply put, they meet and brainstorm ideas for articles, the projects are assigned, and they go out and do the research they need to do to put their pieces together. This could mean reading other articles, interviewing people, trying out products to give reviews, researching new products or ideas, or conducting surveys. Then they submit their pieces to the editors who put the magazine together digitally. They have a website to maintain as well as a printed magazine that is sent out to subscribers and sold in stores. To them, convincing information is found in topics that would appeal to men and fall under the categories they have listed at the top of their website: fitness, sex, and style.

If I were to reach out to Men’s Health magazine, I believe the best way to do so would be through an email to the editor. I would state my reason for emailing, and I would write an article to be published in the magazine. The editor could choose to publish the article I wrote, or they could use my idea and have people from the team of writers write a their own piece to be published in the magazine. An email makes the most sense because editors use and check their email regularly. A lot of the work they do is online; an old-fashioned letter may not reach them. If I attach my article to the email, they could access it directly as opposed to reading it in print and having to type it out themselves.

As for the team at Sexploration, they use emails, phone calls, flyers, and events to communicate with each other and with the Indiana University community. When making decisions, the students are the most important influence. Sexploration cares about what the students want; feedback is crucial. They cater to students through events and meetings. They choose topics that explore, engage, and challenge sexual norms, and they talk about them. They educate students and aim to openly discuss sex and provide a comfortable and safe environment.

If I were to reach out to them, I would do so in a PowerPoint presentation. I think this would be the best because they are all about making their topics interesting and fun for the students, while still educating. If I made a PowerPoint, my message may be more effective because of the visual aspect. It would be easier to understand if you could see pictures and graphs. Sexploration could create a whole event based on my topic and show my PowerPoint there. They could turn it into a presentation and encourage the people that come to spread the word and break the stereotypes.

My email to Men’s Health would be formal and direct because I would be reaching out to people who are professional and most likely very busy. My attached article would be informative, entertaining, and concise. It would have to be informative and supported with evidence and citations so they know it is truthful. It would also have to be entertaining and concise so it has a higher chance of getting published in the magazine.

My PowerPoint for Sexploration would be much more laid back, fun, and geared towards college students. Sexploration wants to bring in a lot of students, so they want to make sure their events are fun and exciting. My information would be presented in a way that college students would enjoy, but it would also be full of information. Instead of including a slide with my citations, I would include resources for the students to use so they can read further if they want to. I could even make a flyer, brochure, or card to hand out at the event.

Because I want to reach a younger audience, I think my best option for a stakeholder would be Sexploration at Indiana University. I could educate college students and entertain them at the same time by making a PowerPoint presentation to be shown at an event along with a card full of resources students can use. In both, I will tailor my lexis to match lexis that college students would use in a casual setting. I believe this would be the most impactful way to spread my message.

Annotated Bibliography

Relevant Resources

Planned Parenthood. “Birth Control for Men.” How Can Men Prevent Pregnancy? 28 Dec 2015. Web. 09 Mar 2017.

The goal of Planned Parenthood is to provide current, honest, simple information on many topics surrounding sex and sexual health. They state outright that men have less birth control options than women. According to Planned Parenthood, men have five options: abstinence, condoms, outercourse, vasectomy, and withdrawal. I will be focusing on nonpermanent methods that sexually active, heterosexual couples can use, so that would narrow the list down to three: condoms, outercourse, and withdrawal.

I will use this information to show that currently, there are only three nonpermanent methods that the male in a sexually active heterosexual relationship can use to prevent pregnancy. I will briefly describe each one using the hyperlinks provided in this source. They lead to more Planned Parenthood articles that I have also cited. This source will be a perfect way to back up my argument that men deserve to have more methods of preventing pregnancy, and that the ratio of options men have to options women have is very unbalanced.

Lastly, Planned Parenthood suggests that both men and women should use a birth control method in order to lower the chance of pregnancy even further. They also say that couples could practice fertility awareness-based methods. I will touch on these two ideas because couples can never be too careful. Many couples will want to do as much as they can to prevent pregnancy if the time is not right for them to have a baby.

MacDonald, Fiona. “This Condom-Free Male Birth Control Just Passed Its Toughest Test Yet.” ScienceAlert. Web. 09 Mar 2017.

            Vasagel, created by the Parsemus Foundation, is a one-time injection that blocks the vas deferens with a flexible, spongy, hydrogel material. This material would block sperm cells while still allowing other bodily fluids to pass through. This means that men could still ejaculate, but there wouldn’t be any sperm in it that would get a woman pregnant. So far, it is reversible, and it only requires a one-time injection, but it is not certain yet how long it will last.

            So far Vasagel has been tested on a group of rhesus monkeys (which are known to respond to medication and treatments similarly to humans) and on a group of rabbits and no pregnancies or complications were reported. As of February 7, 2017, preparations are being made for the first clinical trials; they are hoping to get Vasagel on the market by 2018. However, they have to get through three rounds of human clinical trials first.

            Most other attempts at finding reversible male birth control options involve hormonal or chemical regulation of sperm. This comes with intense side effects; a promising trial from 2016 was stopped due to severe depression and mood disorders among other side effects. Unlike these alternatives, Vasagel physically blocks sperm almost like a condom, but Vasagel is only injected one time.

            I will use this information in my paper to point out that improvements are being attempted, researched, and tested all the time. Some promising trials are out there, and Vasagel has high potential of being a successful, nonpermanent, alternative for men. If Vasagel is successful, men wouldn’t have to wear condoms or do anything permanent to their body in order to actively prevent pregnancy in their relationship.

Thornton, Jim. "Can We Reinvent the Rubber?" Men's Health. 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

            It is known that a lot of men don’t like to use condoms. In some relationships, men even refuse to wear them. Why is that? Men’s Health says that there’s an obvious reason: while blocking sperm, condoms also block pleasure, spontaneity, and emotional intimacy.

            Men’s Health points out that the first design for the modern condom was developed a few years before the Wright brothers’ first successful flight. Since then, the only real improvement has been the introduction of latex. Other than that, the condom is basically identical to the first version.

            It’s not just men; several women have the same complaints as men about condoms.  Thirty percent of women report that this break causes them to lose arousal. Twenty-eight percent of men lose their erection while putting a condom on and, once it is on, twenty percent have trouble maintaining their erection during intercourse. This has been such a common issue that a new diagnosis CAEP (condom-associated erection problems) has emerged. This can cause performance anxiety and make men much less likely to wear condoms.

            Oftentimes, people wear condoms only with people they don’t know or trust. When they are with the person they love, they don’t wear them. In this way, a condom acts as an emotional intimacy barrier.

            I think this information is important to include in my paper because it shows that even though condoms are common and seem to be a generally effective and efficient way for men to prevent pregnancy, not all men, or women, are willing to use them.

"Male Birth Control Study Killed After Men Report Side Effects." NPR. 03 Nov. 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

            In a previous source, Fiona MacDonald mentioned that there was a promising study that was cut short because of the side effects. I wanted to look into this study further so I could include the information in my paper. I found that in 2016 The World Health Organization created a two-hormone injection that was designed to lower sperm count. They gave 320 men shots every eight weeks. The sperm counts were reduced significantly and there were only a handful of pregnancies. However, many men were dropping out due to the side effects.

            Acne, mood swings, and depression were the most common side effects. Many women will argue that these are common side effects that they have been experiencing for decades with hormonal birth control pills. All birth control pills have side effects; this study was cancelled because the emotional problems were so severe that one man attempted to commit suicide.

            Making a birth control pill that reduces sperm production in men is more complicated than making a birth control pill for women because women only produce one egg a moth whereas men produce millions of sperm constantly. Women have a monthly cycle; men don’t have an equivalent.

            This information will be useful because I can make the point that it’s really not as easy as it seems. Men and women have different processes when it comes to producing eggs and sperm, so it’s not as easy to give men a birth control pill. I will also use this information to touch on the fact that women have been dealing with unpleasant side effects for a long time that men are not willing to put up with.

“Which birth control method is right for you?” YouTube, uploaded by WUSTLChoiceProject. 3 December 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9SHoy1C3tU

            To show the amount of options women have, and educate myself so I can briefly describe each one, I found a YouTube video. In it, women have ranked the birth control options in order of effectiveness and described each one. This is a great source for women to go to if they haven’t been educated properly and don’t know the options available to them.

            The top three methods are the IUD and the implant. IUD stands for intra-uterine device, and there are two of them; one is hormonal that lasts for five years and one is non-hormonal that lasts for ten years. These three methods are over 99 percent effective and reversible. The implant lasts up to three years and is inserted into the inner arm. After that comes the birth control shots. They are given every three months and are 94 percent effective.

            Next are the pills, patch, and ring. They are all 91 percent effective. The pill has to be taken daily to be effective. There is a pill with estrogen and one without; people who experience high blood pressure or migraines should avoid estrogen. The patch has to be changed weekly for three weeks. The ring has to be inserted by whomever is using it and must be changed every four weeks. There is also one time use pills for women usually referred to as the “morning-after pill”. These can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex.

            I think it’s important for a woman to know her options so she and her partner can make an educated choice when deciding which methods to use. Using birth control is important because many unwanted pregnancies occur due to lack of protection. I can use the information from this video to educate not only myself, but those around me. 

Proposal

When trying to prevent pregnancy in heterosexual relationships, how can men take action? This is an important question to explore because couples deserve to make informed decisions when choosing a birth control plan. Usually, women are expected to be responsible for protecting themselves because they would be carrying the child. Women have tons of options when it comes to birth control that many people are quite familiar with. Men have few. I believe that heterosexual men should be just as responsible for preventing pregnancy as their female partner. For this reason, I am choosing to focus specifically on the different birth control options for men.  

Most often, when people think of ways males can prevent pregnancy, only condoms come to mind. It is true that there are more contraceptives available for females than there are for males. Nevertheless, condoms are not the only option, and not all alternatives involve celibacy or a permanent procedure such as a vasectomy. I will be shedding some light on those alternatives because I believe they should be as just universally recognized and suggested as the most common female contraceptives. It is important to remember that advancements and new ideas are always being created, discussed, and tested. Through some preliminary research, I have found that some male contraceptives are still in the early stages of development, and some are still just ideas. I think it is important to expose these new ideas to the world even if they are not perfect yet. The more people hear about these ideas, the more comfortable they may become.

Birth control is often a taboo subject. This may be because of some religions, or the way that sexual education is taught in schools. Upon further research, I will learn how children are educated on the topic of contraceptives in schools in different places. I will also survey and interview young people and use that information to show just how much young people know about their options. Through these peer interactions, I hope to send the message that it is okay to openly discuss birth control; it should not be treated as a secret. Especially between couples. If couples are comfortable enough to have sex, they should be comfortable enough to discuss birth control and fully understand what is out there for them.

            My goal is to raise awareness for the up and coming forms of male birth control. Some are still in the experimental stage, but, upon exploration, they can become popular in the future. With the current feminism movement and the increasing push for equality of the sexes, I think this is a perfect time for male forms of birth control to really take off. However, that will never happen if no one talks about it. Males should be held just as accountable as women when preventing pregnancy. Upon further research, I will see if some men find it “feminine” or “emasculate” to be on birth control. Although, if these new male contraceptives are popularized, accessible, and discussed in a comfortable, positive way, the stigma may be erased. That would be ideal.

            I’m targeting young, heterosexual, sexually active people who wish to prevent pregnancy. Older people can definitely take action as well, but I am targeting young people because a few of the male options are still in their early stages of development. Personally, I hope to better educate myself, so I can better educate those around me. I hope to shed light on up and coming male contraceptives so that it may become a more popular and comfortable subject. This could eliminate the stereotype that unplanned pregnancy is the woman’s fault and bring us one step closer to absolute gender equality.

Works Cited

Planned Parenthood. “Birth Control for Men.” How Can Men Prevent Pregnancy? 28 Dec 2015. Web. 09 Mar 2017.

"Birth Control for Men? It's Coming!." Men's Fitness, Vol. 33, No. 1, Jan/Feb 2017, pp. 26. EBSCOhost. Web. 08 Mar 2017.

MacDonald, Fiona. “This Condom-Free Male Birth Control Just Passed Its Toughest Test Yet.” ScienceAlert. Web. 09 Mar 2017.

"A Guy Thing: Male Responsibility and Birth Control." Guy Thing: How to Be a Man without Becoming a Father, 01 Feb 2007, pp. 1-2. EBSCOhost. Web. 09 M

Topic Reflection

          When trying to decide what to write about for my semester project, I thought about the topics I have always wanted to learn more about, but have never taken the time to research. I narrowed my list down to three: mediums, dreams, and male birth control. They are all very different from each other and each has its own set of pros and cons. In addition, each topic would require a different method of research, different sources, and the final product would appeal to different audiences.

            My first topic of choice is mediums. Mediums are people who act as a channel between the living and the dead. When people who have died wish to pass on a message to someone who is alive, they can communicate with a medium to get their message through. There have been television shows created surrounding this topic such as Long Island Medium and Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry; mediums have become much more popular in the past few years. Many people believe that the television shows are fake and that mediums are just putting on a show to make money. However, there are hundreds of testimonies from people who have interacted with mediums and believe that what they do is real.

            If I were to choose this topic for my semester project, I would base the final product largely around the testimonies. Personally, I believe that mediums are not faking what they do; I would take the side of those who believe in them. I have never interacted with a medium before, but my mother has. She contacted a medium a little while after her father passed away. She believed that the medium really did come in contact with her father because the medium was able to tell my mother something that she had only ever shared with her father. The messages she then received from her father helped her deal with his passing. Many others like my mother reach out to mediums when they have difficulties overcoming the death of someone close to them. Some people share their stories, and they are inspiring. Whether mediums are real or fake, they help people who are having difficulties get the closure they need to move forward with their lives and stop dwelling on the past. I think that is a wonderful thing.

            I think the positive aspects of this topic are the stories from people who believe and have been helped. Each person has a unique experience. However, the topic may be difficult to write about because there would not be many facts. The only pieces of evidence are the connections mediums make with the people they are talking to. When mediums sense a presence, they can let the living person know who they are sensing and connect with them somehow. It could be through a name, a number, a symbol, or other things of that nature. These connections are usually something that the medium would not usually be able to just guess, and this is the main way that people know that the mediums are not faking it. Even still, those connections are not facts. While I could research and write about all of the positive experiences people have had with mediums, that would not be enough to prove they are real.

If I were to choose mediums as my topic, I would be entering the conversation within the community of mediums, those who believe, and those who do not. I would explain what mediums are, how they came to be, and what they can do for others. I would address that there are people who do not believe and why. Though large, the community would be clear and the topic would be interesting. Although, I am not sure that I would be able to properly back up my argument with enough factual evidence.

            My second option is to write about dreams. It is true that everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers their dreams when they wake up. Why is that? Are dreams random, or do they have meaning? What do they mean? These are questions that I would be addressing if I chose this topic. This is another option that would be very fun and interesting to write about. I have always wondered if my dreams had meaning. I love having conversations with my friends and family about my dreams and theirs and what they could possibly mean. There are theories about what certain things in dreams mean, but I find it hard to believe that these are always true for everyone. I have also wondered why we forget most of our dreams soon after we wake up. There are dreams that I have had in the past that I can still remember to this day, but others I forget minutes after I wake up.

            I am worried that this topic would be too broad. There is not a very specific discourse community I could direct all of my research towards because everyone has dreams. If I just focused on the meanings behind the things we dream about I could enter into the conversation in the community of dream analysts. I think I would run into a similar problem as with mediums, though. There is no proof that what a dream analyst is saying is true. I could focus on the scientific side of dreams and discuss why dreams occur and why we forget them when we wake up. I know that dreams only occur in a certain phase of sleep. If I were to focus on this, I could direct my research towards a more scientific community.

            There is also the idea of lucid dreaming. If I wanted to stay within the topic of dreams, researching lucid dreaming would be a more specific option. Lucid dreaming is when a person starts to dream and physically knows they are dreaming, so they can control what happens in their dreams. This is a very interesting concept that I heard about just recently. If I chose this branch of dreaming, I could enter the discourse community of those who lucid dream. Similar to the research I would do if I chose mediums, I could include testimonials in my research. I think the majority of details I would find would come from personal stories.

            I am very interested in dreams. There are many different ways I could go if I were to write about dreams. I would obviously need to narrow it down and get more specific if I were to choose this topic. I am just worried that if I narrow it down too far, I will not have enough evidence and facts to produce reliable work. I think it would be entertaining to learn and write about, but it might not be practical enough. I am also worried that there would not be much of an argument with a topic like this. It would be challenging to find a topic in this category that would be up for debate. I would need to choose an argument to be able to pick a side and back it up.

            The last topic I am considering for my semester project is male birth control. This topic is much different from the other two. In heterosexual relationships, women are usually the ones using contraceptives whether it be the pill, the patch, the ring, sponges, female condoms, shots, or implants. For men there are only condoms. If there are condoms for both females and males, there should be more of the other types of contraceptives for males. Female forms of birth control have various side effects that can be very serious. I think men should have more options than just condoms.

            If I am not mistaken, medical professionals have recently started working on a pill that reduces sperm in male ejaculate. I was very excited when I saw a video about this. However, when I sent the video I saw to my boyfriend to see what he thought, he immediately shot it down. He said he would not take that pill even though he has said in the past that I should take birth control pills. This leads me to the social stigma. There is definitely a stigma in society revolving around birth control for men. It just assumed that women are the ones who are “supposed” to be on the pill. Men can wear condoms, but even when they do, they are not always the ones purchasing them or supplying them. It is stereotypically to be considered an awkward conversation between partners, but it shouldn’t be. Birth control itself seems to be a taboo subject which seems odd to me because sex is an intimate act. If people are comfortable enough to be having sex, they should not be uncomfortable with different forms of birth control.

            I think one of the biggest problems is the side effects that come with using a birth control pill. Women experience many side effects that men would not be as familiar with. Many women are used to strange hormonal changes happening to them on a monthly basis when they experience PMS and menstruation. Men are not used to these effects so it would, stereotypically, be hard for them to accept a birth control pill that has such strong effects.

I think male birth control could become a more popular product in the future once it becomes more common, and I support that. With the big feminist movement that has been going on recently, it is exciting to know that this would be another step closer to equality. I am concerned that if I were to write about this topic, it would be a little biased because I am a female; I wouldn’t want to come across as being sexist. It would also be hard to nail down a specific community. I think “those using contraceptives” covers too many people. I know there would be a lot of factual evidence on the subject, but it is not as fun and entertaining as my other options.

To decide on a topic for this paper, I need to get more specific. I have three broad ideas, so I need to narrow them down to see which ones would really work for me. Completing my semester project on mediums would be entertaining, but there is little factual evidence. The topic of dreams is just as entertaining and a little more practical, but it is too broad; I have to choose a subtopic. Lastly, I could write about male birth control which seems to be the most practical, but it is not as entertaining. I need to find the perfect topic that will have a discourse community I can become a part of. It is crucial that I can back my argument up with facts, and keep it entertaining at the same time.