http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/08/ … raception/Researchers at Oxford University recently discovered that a genetic defect with the PLC zeta protein in sperm leads to infertility in men because proper functioning of this protein is needed to allow fertilization. This discovery is not only important to men suffering from this type of infertility; it also presents the possibility that researchers could develop a male contraceptive that would inactivate the PLC zeta protein, and that would probably have fewer unpalatable side effects than other male contraceptives under research.
Before comparing this potential male contraceptive to others, it is first important to justify the need for male contraception. The dearth of male contraceptives, especially long-acting, reversible contraceptives, referred to as LARCs, contributes to an unjust arrangement in which women bear the majority of the social, economic, and health-related burdens associated with contraception. Today, there are eleven female contraceptive methods but only two male methods: condoms and vasectomy.[1] Women alone contracept 67.3 percent of the time. If we include shared methods as well as male condom use, which women often negotiate, then women are involved in almost 91 percent of all contraceptive use. Men, in contrast, only participate in contraceptive use one third of the time.[2] Moreover, men’s involvement with contraception is usually limited to casual sex, not long-term monogamous relationships where couples tend to prefer LARCs.
\o/ This is great news
