Why do men consult doctors so little about contraception? One may assume that they do not have strong feelings on the subject, or what feelings they have are aired and dealt with outside a doctor’s surgery. A less satisfactory but more likely explanation is that men are conditioned by their upbringing to believe that they should have adequate internal resources to deal with any conflicts that arise. Is this the case? Few contraceptive textbooks deal with men’s feelings, and they offer little more than chapters on the mechanics of condom use and vasectomy. Where attitudes are mentioned, they tend to come over as generalizations or personal assumptions of the writer. This chapter has been written after listening to the views of many actual men.
To find a current cross-section of men’s ideas about contraception, this author interviewed about 20 men in some depth over three months, giving them opportunities to air their feelings. Often their initial responses to probings were in the form of neat, acceptable replies, but as they relaxed their attitude changed to become more questioning, and at times there was considerable distress. Men were seen at home, alone, and in comfortable surroundings. This author has known them all for some time in the capacity of either their GP or their family’s GP. Men were selected who differed widely, ranging from one who was proud of his tide as ‘the virgin cracker’, through to married and ummarried couples, the sample including two men of over 50 years.
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