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.