From: Wilson (wilson@supremetyrant.com)
Date: Wed Jul 19 2000 - 13:46:51 MDT
I feel exactly the opposite from those women you spoke to.. In my mind,
given that (in America) the rule of law is strongly on the woman's side (in
the case of child support/divorce/pregnancy/etc), I can't trust a woman to
be truthful when she says she is on "the pill."
If I can remove the need to trust her with the headsman's axe, as it were,
then I'm all for it.
--Wilson.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Badger" <w_scott_badger@yahoo.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: MED/SOCIETY:'100% success' for male pill trial
> Terry Donaghe <Terry@Donaghe.com> wrote:
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_836000/836436.stm
> >
> > "Edinburgh University scientists say the first
> > clinical trials of a male contraceptive pill
> > suggest it is 100% effective, with no harmful
> > consequences. "
> >
>
> I recall the last semester of my undergraduate career
> taking a required course in endocrinology (circa
> 1978). Near the end of the course the professor
> briefly mentioned some (then) current research on the
> "Male Pill". The chemical name of the compound being
> investigated was 5-Thio-D-Glucose, if memory serves.
> The prelims looked real good. It was a non-steroid,
> there were no side effects observed in monkeys, and
> full fertility was regained in a matter of days after
> quitting with no observed withdrawal effects. Hell,
> it was basically a sugar pill with some sulfur on the
> number 5 spot on the Glucose ring. I forget how it
> worked, though. Considering how much more complex and
> sensitive the female system is compared to males, I
> was fascinated and called the man doing the research
> (some University in Illinois). He informed me that he
> saw great potential but his grant had not been renewed
> and he hoped that someone else would pick up the ball
> and run with it. I almost went into graduate school to
> become an endocrinologist so that I could run with
> that ball. But after discussing the idea of a male
> pill with lots of different women, I discovered that
> the (then) prevalent attitude was that it didn't
> matter if there was a male pill because men could not
> really be trusted to take it. I heard things like,
> "Well, if I was living with the guy and I actually saw
> him take it then I guess it would be OK, but if I'm
> just dating some guy, I'm not going to take the chance
> of getting pregnant on his say-so that he took the
> pill. I'd have to take my own precautions to be on
> the safe side anyway." The article says only 2%
> wouldn't trust their partner to take the new pill.
>
> I have to assume that there was ultimately something
> wrong with this compound or someone would have done
> more with it. Or maybe it would have been so easy to
> manufacture that there wouldn't have been any profit
> in it. I don't know. Concerns expressed at that time
> were mostly about psychological effects on the male
> libido. Oh no!!! Not a reduced libido!!! Impotence
> anxiety is probably why the grant wasn't renewed.
>
> >From the above article:
>
> > Over 32 years have passed since [the Pope]
> > predicted if this, what he called contraceptive
> > morality, took hold there will be a whole number
> > of unfortunate consequences - like people having
> > a more relaxed attitude to abortion and marriage,
> > increased divorce and a larger number of unplanned
> > pregnancies."
>
> One concern that a friend of mine expressed is that
> those men least likely to take the male pill are the
> ignorant, the stupid, and the lazy while those most
> likely to take the pill are on the other end of the
> spectrum. Not particularly good news for the gene
> pool. This friend of mine also suggested that men
> will now have even more of a propinquity to engage in
> meaningless sexual encounters and women's psyches will
> continue to harbor resentment toward themselves, men,
> and society in general because of this behavior.
>
> Sometimes it seems like this notion that recreational
> sex is a bad thing is primarily propagated by those
> women who continue to perceive the need for a
> long-term commitment from a man before they can feel
> comfortable in a relationship and this appears to be a
> carryover from the days when women depended heavily
> upon men's resources for their well-being and the
> well-being of their children. My hope is that the male
> pill will indeed take us a step closer toward a more
> relaxed attitude toward our sexuality, but not a more
> relaxed attitude toward the responsibilities of
> marriage and/or family. We really need to get past the
> paradigm where women sort men by the size of their
> wallets and men sort women by their potential for
> sexual gratification. I have to admit though, these
> hopes are probably unrealistic on my part.
>
> What are some of the other Male Pill issues being
> debated?
>
> Scott
>
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