In over 30 years of practice, Dr. Errol Billinkoff rarely saw a man without kids come into his Winnipeg clinic to get a vasectomy. But since the pandemic began, he says it’s become an almost daily occurrence.

And he’s not alone.

“At first, I thought I was the only one who was noticing this,” Billinkoff, who brought a no-scalpel vasectomy procedure to Winnipeg in the early 1990s, told CBC News in a November interview.

“But I am part of an international chat group where doctors who do vasectomies participate and the topic came up, and it’s like everybody notices it.”

  • atro_city@fedia.io
    9·
    6 days ago

    men should be more responsible when it comes to birth control and not leave it up to women

    Men literally only have 2 options: condom or vasectomy. Condoms don’t feel good for either side, which is why both try to avoid using them. Vasectomies can be reversible, but require surgery and thus are costly, which of course makes it impossible or at the very least much less attractive for a large portion of society.

    Yes, men can buy underwear that heats up their balls to temperatures that kill sperm, but I’d like you to go around spreading the word of discomfort through sweaty balls and see how far you get.

    • zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev
      5·
      6 days ago

      You know what feels way worse than condoms but is just as effective? Celibacy. Don’t complain about how the sex you’re having isn’t good enough, say that the risks to your partner aren’t important enough, or tell them that they’re the only one that needs to be responsible. I can’t imagine the type of person that would still sleep with you with those attitudes. (If you feel like fluid bonding with a person, great, that’s your choice, but some of us don’t want to, have multiple partners, or can’t)

      • Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        8·
        6 days ago

        Chemical castration is not birth control. Firstly, it rarely actually results in complete sterility. Secondly, it’s whole purpose is to remove sex drive and the ability to feel arousal. Chemical castration in men is closer to women taking an estrogen blocker than it is to hormonal birth control.

        I guess if you consider abstinence to be birth control then you could call it birth control because it enforces abstinence. But ultimately the issue is just that sperm production is far less dependent on hormones than eggs being released. Hormonal changes in men can can easily result in a large reduction in fertility but it is very difficult to cause complete infertility short of physical means. Even trans women who are several years into hormone therapy (without srs obviously) can remain fertile.

      • Omgpwnies@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        6 days ago

        That’s not really an option comparable to taking the pill. Firstly, it isn’t meant to sterilize, it works by effectively removing a person’s ability to become aroused. It also comes with a ton of side effects like reduced testosterone, osteoporosis, suicidal thoughts, etc.

        At least with a condom, a guy can still have sex.

        • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
          12·
          6 days ago

          The pill gives women multiple side effects that can be debilitating yet men still prefer the woman take care of birth control.

          • Omgpwnies@lemmy.worldEnglish
            10·
            6 days ago

            Granted, but generally women are still able to have sex on the pill. Chemical castration removes that ability entirely, on top of the side effects.

            Presenting that in a thread discussing men undergoing voluntary surgery to sterilize themselves while stating that men make women handle birth control is a bit of a hot take there.