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New Male Contraceptive Gel Enters Clinical Trials (cbslocal.com)
The first clinical trial is underway to test a new male contraceptive that could be a game changer for preventing pregnancy. From a report: "(It's) a combination of two horomones: Progestin, which is the typical horomone that is found in female contraceptive pills, which they put in there to suppress sperm production, to trick the body, and testosterone, which is the male sex horomone so that there's normal circulating levels of testosterone that men don't lose their libido or sexual function or have any changes in mood," said CBS News medical contributor Dr. Tara Narula.
The National Institutes of Health is enrolling about 420 couples to use an experimental gel that has been in development for more than 10 years. If proven effective, it would be the first hormonal birth control for men. The gel is applied to the back and shoulders. Researchers found that testosterone, once absorbed through the skin, stays in the system longer than testosterone taken in pill form does. Male volunteers will use the gel every day for four to 12 weeks.
The National Institutes of Health is enrolling about 420 couples to use an experimental gel that has been in development for more than 10 years. If proven effective, it would be the first hormonal birth control for men. The gel is applied to the back and shoulders. Researchers found that testosterone, once absorbed through the skin, stays in the system longer than testosterone taken in pill form does. Male volunteers will use the gel every day for four to 12 weeks.
This is truly the last thing I expected to see on Slashdot.
No women think they like it. Its fun until a decade or two on when they
1) Discover they are married to someone they don't even like
2) Either don't have kids or have just one spoiled brat who is also dumb as a cinder block because they were to old when they had him/her
3) End up with breast cancer because the did not have any kids.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
So, baby, here are our birth control options.
1) You take a pill everyday, at the same time everyday, that has some pretty hard initial side effects.
2) You give me a neck and shoulder massage everyday.
I'm good with 2 too. Glad we agree.
(Oh, yeah, I could wear a condom, but, you know, I'm allergic to latex.)
...
Hands don't get pregnant.
So quit trying four or five times a day.
All of the lovely side effect issues can now be shared by the couple. She can feel bloated and miserable with weight gain problems, and now he can have all the issues that come from confusing his body with both a heaping dose of female hormones and jacking up testosterone at the same time.
I am really surprised that no one has come up with an easily cleanable and reusable fertility test that would allow couples to test for fertility with the same accuracy the current kits have.
According to TFA the extra testosterone is to prevent side effects like loss of libido and sexual function.
Anyway, this is just the trial, it may improve given time with no ways to apply it.
And really this is a huge game changer for men. It will give us a level of control over our own fertility that we have never had before, and maybe even lead to other liberating changes just like the pill did.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Why is anyone still taking the Pill, when implants are so much more convenient and reliable?
Why don't you ask some women? They aren't all that scary, I promise.
I'll save you some time though:
1) Implants are decidedly less convenient if you decide you want to stop using it
2) Implants require a surgical procedure to install and remove - a minor one but still a procedure with risks
3) Women vary in their responses to medication
4) Higher up front cost (though typically cheaper in the long run)
5) Some types of medication make implants less effective
6) There are some side effects
7) It lasts for about 3 years and you have to remember to get it replaced
8) There are different long term health risk profiles
9) Some women just prefer one method over another
According to TFA the extra testosterone is to prevent side effects like loss of libido and sexual function.
Anyway, this is just the trial, it may improve given time with no ways to apply it.
And really this is a huge game changer for men. It will give us a level of control over our own fertility that we have never had before, and maybe even lead to other liberating changes just like the pill did.
Yes... but I'm a little concerned that you have to rub it into your back every day? I have t-rex arms, I can't reach my back. This requires cooperation for someone else to work?
Can I just rub it in somewhere else? Like... well... yeah, there that place... or anywhere else.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
You have 2 other options to stick it in that doesn't result in babies. I would suggest trying those before rubbing some bio agent on your dick.
Just get a vasectomy and shoot blanks instead.
Umm, that's great if you never plan to have kids in the future. But it's a little hard to change your mind later on if you go down this route. If that were a good idea you'd see guys in their 20s getting the procedure already.
Apparently the female pill is something that women like because it reduces or eliminates unnecessary menstruation.
I've not known any woman who "likes the pill"- every woman I had a serious relationship would complain about the pill, how it made them gain weight, dropped their libido... etc, etc. I'm sure there are some out there because every woman is different and the pill impacts them slightly differently.
Women (most) don't take the pill because they like the effects- they take it because they don't want to get pregnant, or, because they have painful periods otherwise and so the side effects are just not as bad as having to deal with a painful period.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
What gets me is locations. How is A guy supposed to rub it in his back shoulders? You have to have someone else to rub it in. And that will affect them too.
Now a gel that a guy can rub on his fick once a day that does the same thing? Yes now that will get used.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
If you really wanted to make it equal, men would have the option to veto an abortion and the ability to give up all parental rights. Babies shouldn't be used as pawns to trap another individual, male or female.
Because they don't want sterilization and want kids in the future?
Do you Gentoo!?
The pill basically works on women primarily by chemically simulating pregnancy, in order to suppress ovulation. So, you can either get pregnant or have many of the effects of pregnancy except having the baby and most of the weight gain, plus an increased chance of cancer (at least some of the various forms of the pill are classified as carcinogens).
If fact, almost all forms of contraceptives are disliked because of the various side effects. They are just disliked less than having a pregnancy and decades of child care. For instance, vasectomy has several side effects, including many that don't show up for years or decades: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tes...
I doubt it, the application method is about making sure men aren't actually empowered to control their own reproductive destiny. Rubbing it on your penis would carry the same problem, it could be tasted or otherwise detected.
There are applicators with a long handle for this kinds of use cases.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Why wouldn't you be able to rub it across your shoulder blades? The small of your back no, but you should be able to touch your shoulder blades.
The problem with vasectomies is that they should be considered permanent because the reversal is not guaranteed and, you know, things change, you may end up regretting that decision.
Also there are other complications, in my case the Post-Vasectomy-Pain (PVP) was quite unbearable and induced a lot of nausea.
That's why vasectomies are not like "normal" contraception.
I use axle grease. Whenever I come in from the garage with some on, there's no danger of conception.
Have gnu, will travel.
Only when I visit relatives in Flint, MI.
I do not have a signature
Sure - just like female hormonal birth control can cause all sorts of horrible problems for them.
As for having no value, why are you talking about women? Male birth control is for men, not women. Women have a few different options to give them the confidence of knowing they can have sex with near certainty of avoiding pregnancy, without having to trust anyone else. This gel would give the same thing to men.
You only have to browse the comments above to see that there's a definite market for such a thing.
Personally I think vasagel sounds like a much better alternative - but it's good to have options.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
The situation is inherently asymmetric because the woman has to carry the baby and the man cannot. Reproduction is never going to be completely fair in all aspects, at least not until the invention of the gestation tank.
Yes because its totally necessary to provide citations to things that have been given wide enough coverage you could easily google them on the same devices you are currently reading my comment on. Sorry A/C your own laziness does not make my post a troll..
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html