Are men the problem with male contraception?

A new gel that men rub into their shoulders every day is the latest in a series of developments that are not only changing the landscape of male contraceptive options, but also highlighting the challenges in winning men over to birth control.

The NES/T gel lowers sperm production, and in eight weeks it becomes as effective at preventing pregnancy as the female contraceptive pill. It follows the development of a male contraceptive pill which entered UK trials in December last year. The pill trials will determine whether the medication is "safe and effective", wrote author Jill Filipovic in The Guardian. "But the manufacturers are no doubt wondering about something else: will men take it?"

'Up for it'

Male contraceptive methods beyond condoms have evolved at a snail's pace compared to women's options, so why has it "taken so long?" wondered USA Today, to "get from sheep intestines to pills and hormonal gels?"

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Plenty of men are in favour of male hormonal contraception, as demonstrated by a 2023 YouGov poll suggesting that just over half of British men aged 18 to 44 would be open to taking a contraceptive pill. "Men and boys are afraid of accidental pregnancies", too, said one man speaking to The Times. "Count me in." 

"I don't think I'm alone in suspecting that if they were genuinely up for it", a male pill "would have been invented long ago", said Anna Tyzack in The Telegraph. Tellingly, "when I asked fathers at my children's school if they'd take it, they all said they would, so long as it was safe and had no negative side effects".

'Resigned to female pain'

If men are likely to be put off by contraception's side effects, they're not alone. "Nearly half of all women who start taking the pill discontinue in the first year because of the side effects," said Tyzack. 

The difference, said Charlie Gowans-Eglinton in The Times, is that "on the whole we're just more resigned, as a society, to female pain". While women still battle to get the medical establishment to take their experiences seriously, "trials of male hormonal pills have been cancelled" when those same side effects, such as acne and mood swings, "were deemed too severe". Despite the sometimes serious physical and emotional impact of hormonal birth control, women "take the risks, because our stakes are higher". 

A big 'if'

"Ever since the invention of contraception – and before the concept even existed", said Helen Coffey in The Independent, "women have always known it's up to us to take care of the distinctly unsexy 'not falling pregnant' part of sex". Dr Diana Blithe, a clinical researcher in contraceptive health, told The Telegraph that "male contraception will always be a female issue". 

There's also "the issue of trust", said Dazed. "How can women trust men who say they're on the pill, when stealthing – non-consensual condom removal – is so widespread?". Of course, "the vast majority of guys" aren't engaging in such "despicable" behaviour, said Coffey, but the very fact this crime is "prevalent enough to have developed its own moniker" is "enough reason to keep women convinced that birth control remains solely our domain".

And even with the best intentions, relying on men for birth control, "when the weight of a lapse of memory will fall on women's bodies, health, and careers if they don't – well, that's a big if", wrote Gowans-Eglinton in The Times.