What Do Young Men Know About Birth Control?

[red-ajah.livejournal.com]

I hope this is ok - I found an interesting article on RH (Reproductive Health) Reality Check which has a video asking men in the DC area what they know about female birth control. The article seeks to highlight some of the flaws in the reproductive health that is taught (and I wholeheartedly agree). The article is here and the video from the article below.

My fav part: With some sexuality education programs still separating classes by gender, limiting conversations about birth control and contraception (and the difference between the two), and with education focusing just on male condom use among men, are we really surprised that pregnancy prevention efforts are not working as well as they could? I’d be interested in knowing if the men interviewed could discuss how to properly use a male condom, demonstrate how to do that, and/or discuss the difference between the male condom and the female condom and how they are used.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/prettyhowtown_/]

Lol.

But really, that's kind of sad. I've tried to explain to my husband what the various types of birth control do to prevent pregnancy. I'm really not sure if he remembers the name of my current BC or its mechanism...

[isee23s.livejournal.com]

These men seem to know a lot more than even the girls I grew up with (at least until we got to college). We felt like the pill/patch/etc. worked somehow, but we weren't sure how. I see a lot of posts on VP from people who don't know, either. Regardless of gender, an alarming number of people don't know this stuff, including many of the people who use these birth control methods and rely on them on a regular basis.

[noodz.livejournal.com]

Yeah I was going to comment along the same lines, that based on posts here and on talking to female friends I think girls/women are just as uninformed about birth control as these men are.

[cheeseydreams.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with this.

[red-ajah.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the article does mention the lack of information for not only men but for women and young girls who most responsibility is placed on and she mentions it's probably worse or the same for LGBT individuals...

[sunkistfriend.livejournal.com]

Agreed!!

[isee23s.livejournal.com]

You're right, I just watched the video and didn't even notice there was an article until now. The impression I got from the video was that it was making men look ill-informed, so that's what I reacted to. Now that you pointed it out, I'm gonna go read it!

[yvettel.livejournal.com]

Frightening. And now, I am going to try not to humiliate all the BFs friends because I am going to ask them the same damned things.

I find it amazing the numbers of men and women that have no idea how or why birth control works.

And for the guys in the video.. its a VAGINA! not "lady business" or any other term you used incorrectly.

[lucymalfoy.livejournal.com]

And for the guys in the video.. its a VAGINA! not "lady business" or any other term you used incorrectly.

This! I feel like a bunch of them were trying to use "politically correct" terms for female anatomy when there's nothing wrong with calling it what it's actually called.

[red-ajah.livejournal.com]

Don't you know "vagina" is a dirty word ~_~
Our culture still have a long way to go. You can show it everywhere but we can't say it.

[acetank.livejournal.com]

Actually...okay, too easy.

[ripcurled.livejournal.com]

What do think you will accomplish by humiliating people? Humiliating people does not help your cause.

[archangelbeth]

She did say she was going to try not to humiliate them. It can be a tricky thing, to try to figure out where people are ignorant, and enlighten them, without them getting very touchy about it.

I will not digress about mansplaining, but I suspect that there are similar or shared roots in the potential reactions when such topics come up.

[ripcurled.livejournal.com]

I read it wrong sorry.

[miss-almost.livejournal.com]

i love how without seinfeld these men would know even less about various forms of birth control. too bad they didnt ask about the sponge...maybe that seinfeld episode would have stuck.

[red-ajah.livejournal.com]

Lol! I'm still hoping to have a "is he sponge-worthy" conversation one day with my girlfriends.

[randomtrend.livejournal.com]

The one guy cracks me up how he keeps saying "chemicals" in birth control pills.

Thanks for sharing this video.

[red-ajah.livejournal.com]

I know - and something about the way he says it have me imagining some epic Star Wars/Death Star scene like fight going on between the "chemicals" and our bodies, lol!

VP is fab!

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

And ingesting them is somehow much worse than absorbing those same 'chemicals' some other way.

I'm just amused by all the umming and ahhing and it reminds me of that beauty pageant contestent describing why Americans couldn't locate America on a map or something. Lots of crap, but no real substance.

[buzzboomsplat.livejournal.com]

I love it how one of the guys was like "um, ahh, i think.. um, it prevents ovulation..", compared to the one who seemed really sure of his answer that HBC "destroys fertility".

[katrina-splat.livejournal.com]

I love the 'destroys fertility' quote XD. Sure makes you think how highly some of these men regard women who go on the pill ><. Pouring these noxious chemicals into our body XD.

[red-ajah.livejournal.com]

He makes the pill sound downright sinister, lol!

[porcelain-ocean.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this!

This was hilarious in the way the guys were trying so hard not to say "egg", "uterus", "vagina" and the like, but at the same time it's sad to see men who are so uncomfortable with female anatomy. Also, it's sad to see them so uninformed about their partners choices for protection. I always thought birth control was part of the discussion before you had sex and I've always informed them how the pill works if we're going from multiple forms of BC to a single form.

I t really shows just how much men (and I think women) really don't know about the forms of birth control. I'm totally going to ask my boyfriend and his friends if they can describe what these things are, and if they can't they're totally getting a lesson.

[fremen-dancer.livejournal.com]

Ha. I go to that diner all the time.

[norainonsunday.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was crazy. I was particularly struck by the one guy first saying that the "most common" form of birth control is the morning after pill. Also that one guy's assumption that the Nuvaring was a "low cost" alternative and safer. I was pretty amused at that one guy saying "lady business" though.

[red-ajah.livejournal.com]

He's just repeated what he sees and hears on tv *snort*

I think I have a new fav. snarky term :)

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise they'd moved onto discussing the diaphragm when the guy said it was "Archaic", I thought he was talking about the Nuvaring!

Man, I wish the ring was a cheap option, it's hella expensive still in Australia. :(

[ktnzgtklws.livejournal.com]

*head desk* *head desk* *head desk*

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

Since this is an image, would you mind putting it under an LJ-cut? Some folks may have slower connections, which may mean this page (and/or the VP main page and/or their friends pages) take(s) longer to load for them. :)

[swiggett.livejournal.com]

What I found the most frustrating was the fact the most of the men thought the morning after pill actually killed a fertilized egg, instead of just dosing the woman with extra HBC hormones to prevent pregnancy.