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Comment by nxc18 | Hacker News Reader

While I get that you could argue that 'pregnancy is the worst std' with 18+ years-long untreatable consequences, I don't really see the appeal for something that just targets pregnancy.

As a gay male, I would tend to favor condoms and other things that have a chance of reducing std transmission. If anything, the AIDS epidemic taught us that STDs are just as serious as pregnancies.

Ultimately it comes down to not fucking complete strangers and using protection when you do. For long term relationships, there are so many options: pills, IUDs, condoms, plan b, and even abortion.

I'm much more interested in research into how to make condoms more effective and better treatments for unsolved problems, like herpes, HIV, Chlamydia, gonorrhea, etc. (antibiotic resistance is still a thing btw).

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The real benefit for male contraceptive is to prevent pregnancy in couples. Not all women react well to the pill, IUDs require a doctor to install/remove, plan B isn't reliable and abortion is morally troublesome for many (even if people are pro-choice, they may not want to get an abortion for themselves).

But yes, it's not a replacement for condoms as the article suggests.

> I don't really see the appeal for something that just targets pregnancy. As a gay male, […]

Your words read almost as a joke :) But when an issue cannot affect one at all, I suppose one may find it difficult to empathize with those it does affect.

If you're in a relationship and are both clean, STDs are not an issue. However when only the female takes the pill its efficiency isn't 100%, so there is still a tiny risk of pregnancy. Having the male take a pill or similar contraception will pretty much nullify that risk (both the female and male pill would have to fail in this case)

The chances of both partners in a relationship staying monogamous are undoubtedly smaller than the chances of getting pregnant while on the pill.

Also it should be mentioned that female contraceptive is also advertised for beneficial side effects, like reducing the symptoms of PMS. While there are surely hormonal cycles that men experience, there really is no regular, painful, recurring symptom to be relieved.

I understand your viewpoint and I think that's definitely something we should also be working on

But as a straight male currently just having casual relationships, I want to be able to control my body's ability to get someone pregnant so I don't have to worry about the consequences

I am the target market for something like this and I'd imagine many of my 20-something year old peers feel similarly

You'd rather chemically alter your hormones and reproductive system function than use a condom?

Well when you ask the question that way of course it sounds bad.

You could also ask "You'd rather not have control over your own body?"and it would look a bit different.

But to your point about condoms, I think they're great for protecting against STI's.

But as many men can relate, they do not feel very good. A lot of guys lose their erections easily when wearing them.

So if I were with one partner monogamously but I felt that I was not ready to be a father, then yes, I'd rather have male birth control.

After all, 98% of women in America have "chemically alter [their] hormones" at one point or another and 62% are doing it right now

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_birth_control#Un...

I mean, we can go both directions. But realistically this is a large market; many dislike condoms for purely birth control purposes.

I am intrigued, what is "plan b"?

It is a strong contraceptive made to be taken the morning after. Useful if a condom broke or wasn't used.

The morning after pill.

Going to chime in with a nitpicky female voice here: abortion isn't really a reoccurring long-term form of birth control that should be lumped in with the pill or IUDs.

It's kind of like calling a fighter jet's eject sequence a landing option.

Not picking on you specifically, I just know a lot of men who toss around abortion pretty lightly. Even if you're pro-choice it can often weigh on you.

Spot on. Abortion is not just another option. It is orders of magnitude more expensive, more emotionally tolling, and even physically tolling.

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