Words | Haliya May
Why Men’s Side Effects Are Dealbreakers and Women’s Are Just Expected
Walk into any pharmacy sixty years after the pill reshaped reproductive health, and you will find dozens of contraceptive options for women but only three for men: condoms, a scalpel, or the pull-out method. Male birth control has existed in theory for decades, yet it remains stubbornly absent, and not because the science is lacking.
The History of Abandoned Male Hormone Trials
Two condom packets on yellow background
Male hormonal contraception research began in the 1970s with weekly testosterone injections, sometimes combined with progestins, to suppress sperm production. The method worked. Early trials achieved severe oligozoospermia (extremely reduced sperm concentration) and, in some cases, full azoospermia (no detectable sperm in the semen). In 1990, a…
