A very cute little study comes out of North East England from researchers at Teesside University questioning men and women there about their attitudes toward a male birth control pill.
They questioned 380 people from the area, 140 men and 240 women, about their feelings regarding the desirability of the pill and their own opinions about the usefulness. The research was led by Judith Eberhardt from the University’s Social Futures Institute and immediately cast doubts on whether or not the men of the North could be trusted with something as important as a daily oral contraceptive.
The women said no. It seems they feel there is too much risk to trusting men to remember a daily contraceptive routine.
“There’s been some work in to the male pill, mainly in the US and Australia,” said Eberhardt. “But nothing it seems has done in the North East (of England), which is perceived to be a male-dominated society. Men in the North don’t go to the doctors very often and we wanted to see if that approach to health care would influence their attitudes to the male pill. Past research has shown a link between health awareness and attitudes toward the male pill.”
She outlined three broad findings in the research. First, everyone liked the idea. Second women were more positive then men, however, they didn’t trust the men to commit to the daily regimen. And third, men in strong relationships favored the oral contraceptive more then man in casual relationships.
If this is the case, that it doesn’t matter if it works or not because women won’t trust the men, then pharmaceutical companies should be looking at other long term, single dose options like an injection or an implant.
Source: University of Teesside, ScienceDaily
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