From: zen@death.corp.sun.com (d)
Newsgroups: alt.feminism
Subject: Re: birth control [Was: Re: Choice for men]
Date: 15 Sep 92 16:29:54 GMT
	<1992Sep13.221346.824@cco.caltech.edu> <j-yn0ff.tyger@netcom.com>
	<ZEN.92Sep13235947@death.corp.sun.com> <oneil.716489448@cwis>
Organization: savage hackers
NNTP-Posting-Host: death.corp.sun.com
In-reply-to: oneil@cwis.unomaha.edu's message of 14 Sep 92 16:50:48 GMT


In article <oneil.716489448@cwis> oneil@cwis.unomaha.edu (Sharon O'Neil) writes:
>  zen@death.corp.sun.com (d) writes:
> >>>>Seems to me the pressure for birth control is about equal...men are
> >>>>pressured into using condoms and women are pressured into using the
> >>>>pill.  
> May we point out that using the condom is not life-threatening, whereas 
> using the pill can very well have very adverse effects for the woman?  A woman
> who uses the pill must have her blood pressure monitored periodically.  She
> may only get three months supply at a time so that her doctor can make sure
> that the pill is not causing problems for her.  Every year at Planned 
> Parenthood, a woman must sign forms stating that she understands the 
> side effects of the pill may include blood clotting and some types of breast
> cancer.

  I wasn't advocating the use of pill for women, nor the use of condoms
for men... I agree with what you are saying, but not sure why you said
it here.  Ditto for lots of the other stuff you said -- very good
advice, I'll say that, but I was specifically talking about birth
control and the social pressures of why people use which methods.

  Just a few comments/clarificiations/whatever:

> >  Not quite... it seems to me that you have two basic types of birth
> >control; one type is one partner's task to ingest, put in, whatever,
> >that is often done before sex (a pill, iud, diaphram, whatever), and,
> >most importantly (for the men), doesn't decrease sensitivity or
> >sensation for the man.
> The pill must be taken every single day at approximately the same time for it
> to be effective.  It is not simply taken before sex.

  I didn't say it was; I said that *type* of birth control is often put
in before sex.  Obviously the pill is different.

> Other types that you mention above
> must be inserted by a doctor, requiring a visit to the doctor's office.

  The doctor does this the first time it's being fitted... not each time
you are going to have sex :-)

> >The other kind is the more insidious method --
> >one that needs to be donned (by either partner) right before the
> >critical moment (before intercourse or oral sex, if you're a
> >safe-sex-kind-of-person, which I know you all are...), and affects
> >sensation and spontaneity.
> Condoms and foam (you folks always remember to use a second type of birth
> control with your condom, increasing its effectiveness from 70 percent to
> more than 90 percent, don't you?) need not destroy spontaneity.

  Indeed.  I wasn't implying that it had to destroy the mood; I was
echoing common complaints about the stuff.

[...]
> Personally, all I ask is that my boyfriend be made aware of the burden I
> undergo to avoid pregnancy by doing what I describe in the above paragraph:
> I ask that the take 50% of the financial responsibility of contraception.
> When we do use methods like foam and gel, I ask that he help me use it so
> that he is conscious that avoiding pregnancy is part of his responsibility
> as well.

  That's a great idea... it's too bad, however, that you're forced to
take all the health risks yourself.

> >  Of course, from reading this newsgroup, it seems that men are so loath
> >to take on any kind of responsibility at all that I'm not at all
> >surprised that there aren't other effective options for men than what
> >currently exists.
> In my own personal opinion and in my own relationship, communication is part
> of contraception.  If a man is so loath to take on any kind of responsibility
> then it is my opinion he has no business have sex with his girlfriend.  There
                                                             ^^^^^^^^^^
  Since you went out of pregnancy and into general safe sex, your should
put boyfriend in here too...

> are ways for him to take responsibility, as I have pointed out, even if it
> means just paying for half (50%) of her prescription.

  Bravo... I like that line, too -- "communication is part of
contraception."  Thanks for the great post --

 -- d
Xref: sparky alt.feminism:1079 talk.politics.misc:45109