Letters
Vasectomy: Men fear impotency more than war
Men Fear Impotency Than War
When we say that birth control is mainly a woman’s role we are just being true. Reality has shown that most men keep themselves aloof from such responsibility. They even don’t want to be bothered. A woman is supposed to control the number of children she is supposed to have because the man is likely not to mind. A few men can labour to remind their spouses to take the birth control pills but they will not stand it if it was their turn to take the pills. Let’s say pills are a bother, can men try vasectomy?
Please men put your hands up if you can accept vasectomy. The decision to have a vasectomy is no small matter, as it must be considered irrevocable. Although urologists sometimes perform reversals, there are no guarantees of success. Could this be the reason why men fear it? Or they are just proverbially less concerned with family planning responsibility? Something could me scaring men from taking up this family planning method.
Just mention the word vasectomy to a group of men and instantly make them cringe. In spite of its popularity, vasectomy remains a subject feared by most men. Understandable though as misconceptions are circulated around and somehow believed to be true by others. This male sterilization is a surgical procedure used as a permanent form of birth control. It is safe, simple and highly effective. The actual procedure may sound alarming, but it’s usually quick and with very little pain.
The major fear stems from the belief that now you are sterile you may become impotent. The most frequent questions are: Will I become impotent? Will I be less of a man than I was before? The perception is not only that they will not be able to father children, but some other functions may not work the way they did before. Sterile connotes something more to some men than what it actually is. It is equating manliness with that organ and what it has to do when asked to perform.
You can now see that men fear impotence more than war. May be that’s why the push the birth control thing to women. You know it is easier to control a monthly event of ovulation in women than to regulate the production of millions of fertile spermatozoa every day in men. Thus, the contraceptive options for men have not changed in decades and are still limited to the use of condoms, a timely withdrawal or vasectomy. The first two approaches have a relatively higher failure rate, whereas the last approach is largely irreversible and it has a number of myths. It is also true that vasectomy is not suitable for younger men.
Hunters are always hunters and will never keep their spears far from them. They are not ready to regret why they threw away spears. Perhaps the availability of safe, reversible and reliable male contraceptives will allow men and women to take full control of their fertility in family planning. But still medics have a duty to clear the myths about vasectomy if men can take it up.
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