The male contraceptive pill got a step closer to being a reality this week – potentially becoming available in the next few years.
The drug – known as the YCT-529 pill – has undergone tests that indicate it is safe for humans, with no side effects.
It’s good news. For years women have been expected to take the lead in reproductive responsibility, and that’s long been unfair on them.
You’d think most women would be excited – at last, men can pull their weight. Not necessarily. The online discourse surrounding it has been troubling, with people asking if they can actually trust men to take the pill.
It’s a story that comes around every few years, and it always elicits the same reaction.
‘I can’t trust my fiancé to remember to put the bins out’ wrote The Sun’s Joely Chilcott back in 2019, ‘let alone take charge of taking a pill every day to stop ME getting pregnant.’
In 2024, Helen Coffey wrote for the Independent, about how women ‘just can’t trust men’ to take the pill.
Just this morning,Amol Rajan asked on Radio 4, ‘is it the case that some men might be useless at… taking a pill daily for a sustained period of time?’
I get the mistrust, but it raises some uncomfortable questions: – ‘are men really that unreliable?’, and the more troubling one: ‘Why do so many women think so?’
A 2022 survey done by the American Chemistry Society found that, though 49% of men would be willing to take a daily contraceptive pill, 42% of women were worried that men would simply forget to take it.
The baffling thing here is that men obviously take medicine all the time.
I’ve taken Sertraline for the last decade or so to manage my depression. I take it every morning with my breakfast. It’s part of my daily routine.
One of the first things I do when I wake up is take a puff on the preventative inhaler I use to manage my asthma. Like many people, I’ve recently started using GLP-1 injections to help with weight loss. I take my jab every Sunday, regularly as clockwork.
That’s three regular medications, and my GP trusts me to take them all by myself.
I’ve done courses of antibiotics. I had daily pain meds when I had a bike accident a few years ago. I’ve applied topical cream to rashes as prescribed. I once spent two years taking daily pills for acid reflux.
More to the point, gay and bisexual men (like me) have been taking PrEP– a daily pill that prevents HIV infection – for years. The NHS estimates that over 100,000 people in England are currently on PrEP, the majority of them men who have sex with men.
They take it religiously, because their lives depend on it. HIV-positive men take antiretroviral therapy daily, often multiple pills, to manage their condition. Trans men take testosterone regularly.
Here I am, a man, and I’ve been trusted absolutely to take my pills, like a good boy. And somehow, miraculously, despite my poor, unreliably male brain, I’ve pulled it off. So why wouldn’t a partner trust me to take The Pill?
The idea that men can’t handle daily medication is proveably nonsense.
What’s more, when you consider that studies have found that around 50% of women reportedly miss the pill at least once a month due to forgetfulness, the concern about male reliability starts to look a little more like projection.
So why this persistent myth that we can’t be trusted with contraception?
Maybe it comes down to bodily autonomy and reproductive control, and I do get that. For decades, women have had to bear the physical and emotional burden of preventing pregnancy.
They’ve endured hormonal side effects, weight gain, mood swings, and decreased libido – all while being told these are acceptable trade-offs.
The deeper issue is that pregnancy happens in women’s bodies, not men’s. When the consequences of contraceptive failure fall disproportionately on women, it makes sense they’d be hesitant to hand over control, even to trustworthy partners.
There’s also historical precedent for women’s scepticism – men have been known to intentionally deceive women about using contraceptives, also known as reproductive coercion. A 2017 study from Bournemouth University found that as many as one in four women reported coercion over their reproductive lives.
Even if women can bring themselves to trust their partners, there’s still deep-seated attitudes on the male side that could cause issues.
Where to see more of Marc
Marc Burrows is appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe in ’The Britpop Hour’ at 6.10 every day, Underbelly Bristo Square.
Men may worry about appearing ‘less masculine’ or ‘weak’ or fear the pill might mess with their libido. These hang-ups – rooted in outdated ideas about what makes a man manly – could prove way more problematic than any trust issues.
It’s something both genders need to work on. The truth is, we desperately need more contraceptive options for everyone.
The current setup is bonkers: women get to choose from a smorgasbord of pills, implants, and injections (with many recorded side effects), while men get… condoms and the snip. That’s it.
This lopsided situation forces women to shoulder the burden and costs of preventing pregnancy. It’s high time we evened the score.
If we can trust men to take life-saving medications for depression, HIV, diabetes, and countless other conditions, we can certainly trust them with contraception.
The question isn’t whether men are capable – it’s whether we’re ready to ditch the tired assumptions that keep reproductive responsibility so ridiculously one-sided.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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