That's the earliest year I remember hearing about a male birth control pill. There are probably articles from years prior to 2010. Obviously this is a great advancement, but is it reasonable to expect one of these to actually come to market within the next decade?

Edit: Actually, this is discussed in an article linked to by the Scientific American article:

A joke among researchers in the field of male contraception is that a clinically approved alternative to condoms or vasectomy has been five to 10 years away for the past 40 years.

[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago (12 children)

Female birth control has to be safer and have fewer side effects than pregnancy.

Male birth control has to be safer and have fewer side effects than letting women carry the burden of birth control.

There will not be a male birth control pill. We would be better off putting these resources toward improving the safety of female birth control.

[–] nBodyProblem@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

Male birth control has to be safer and have fewer side effects than letting women carry the burden of birth control.

I mean, I don’t think this is such a high bar to pass.

Pregnancy is bad but I’d argue the consequences of 18 years of unwilling parenthood far outstrips the consequences of 9 months of pregnancy. The consequences for those 18 years impact both parties.

Furthermore, men have almost zero agency of what happens in the case of an unintended pregnancy. A man can’t say, “this would ruin my life, I am going to choose not to have the baby.”

That makes the risk quite high for a man, IMO, and the only way to take agency over that risk is male birth control.

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