I learned that women have tubal ligations far more than I previously thought. It's been estimated that the tubal ligation to vasectomy ratio is 2:1.
Jeesh.
This is really impacting me. The numbers have been swirling in my head. Two-to-one, two-to-one.
How massively unfair is this!
What? you may be wondering. How is anything unfair?
Allow me to back up and explain that my family is far more egalitarian than I realized. When I was a young teenager, I found out my father had a vasectomy when my sister was a baby. It just seemed fair. Prior to us, mom had taken the pill to prevent pregnancies. Then mom endured two C-sections to have us. Fair enough for my dad to step up to the plate, say, "you're body's gone through enough, I'll take this one for the team" and be in charge of the birth control for the family.
I mean, that makes sense, no? Mom's body underwent a fair share of hormones and stresses which my dad's body didn't. A vasectomy is much easier to do than a tubal ligation. Why not?
I guess I always thought partners/couples would opt for the vasectomy: they're cheaper, they're safer, it's much easier to reverse.
And instead, I learn that couples aren't necessarily taking responsibility for birth control after children are born. WOMEN are, but men aren't.
Why? Why this disconnect? Why is there this thinking that "we don't want any more babies, scar her fallopian tubes?" Why doesn't any guy step up?
Now, before you start, I do realize that I'm assuming an awful lot of couples. I am assuming that men aren't volunteering for vasectomies. I just can't fathom that the 2:1 gap of ligations to vasectomy isn't boosted by the fact that from the very start, birth control is assumed by culture to be a "woman's job."
On a related note, prior to me even learning about this 2:1 gap, A volunteered for a vasectomy all on his own. Yay!
5 comments:
Yeah matt will not get one untill I am "more cool" with him and until I actually have sex with him again, I guess just to make sure its worth it or something, although he didnt say it exactly that way. Yet another reason why I am staying here to finish my contract and give me an idea about whether or not I even want to stay with him long term. More and more I think no. It is great that A stepped up, for sure, more men should. Sometimes I think women just need to realize that we do alot and we deserve alot better....
love
aly
Hurray for A! K will be getting one, he has volunteered. All of my gfs dh's are getting them too (3 down, 3 to go). Hopefully it will be an equal issue someday. GRR.
Have you looked at the failure rates of female sterilization vs. male... then compared that to other forms of birth control?
Just more to chew on...
L, I have examined the effectiveness rate, and they're about the same.
That's why it's so puzzling, until you factor in the societal/cultural "norm" (that I suspect most of us reject) that birth control is a women's issue.
This makes me sick. But, I'm jaded and already angry at the sexual disparities between men and women. That said, the *only* reason I can think of that could encourage tubal ligation over vasectomy is a situation in which a woman opts to have her tubes tied during a C-section...as one of my aunts claimed to have had done. Not that this would account for the 2:1 ratio, just a possibility in some situations (if the procedure is still an option in a case like that).
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