Should men take the Pill?

There doesn’t seem to be much of an uptake for the male contraceptive pill, with half of women claiming they wouldn’t trust their partner to remember to take it

Is it time that men started taking the contraceptive pill? Perhaps not as most women say they would worry that their partner would forget to take it, while men say it would challenge their masculinity.

In a survey of 134 women and 54 men, only half of couples said they would use the male Pill when it finally comes on the market, while one in five said they would not use the contraceptive method

‘The female interviewees loved and trusted their male partners, but some of them simply felt that men are, as a gender, more forgetful,’ says Dr Susan Walker, from Anglia Ruskin University.

The study also found that one in six of the men interviewed felt that taking a contraceptive pill was an activity that was culturally associated with women, with one participant saying: ‘The manly image probably does lend itself to the reluctance to take a male oral contraceptive.’

The male contraceptive pill is not currently on the market, but at the trial stage and has been successfully used as a form of human contraception, with the backing of the World Health Organisation.

'I had expected men to be concerned about the biological effects of a male Pill,' says Dr Walker. 'But what I found was that the cultural association between taking the Pill and femininity.'

Do you think the male Pill is a good idea? Would you trust your partner to take it on time? Let us know your thoughts by posting a comment below.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH NEWS