Last week, I gave a TEDxChange talk in Berlin, and the video is now ready for viewing here and at TED.com. My argument is simple:
1. Birth control is an uncontroversial idea (practiced by a billion people) that has unfortunately become controversial.
2. As a result, hundreds of millions of the poorest families in developing countries don't have access to contraceptives that can change their lives -- and their children's lives.
3. If we all start talking about how transformative birth control can be -- and how important it has been in our own lives -- we can help poor women and men empower themselves and spur large-scale economic development.
I loved getting ready for the talk over the past several months, reading up on the literature and talking to experts from several continents. It was a thrill to deliver it, finally, after so much preparation.
Now, I hope you will take over, by telling your story here. Or by sharing my talk with your friends.
On July 11 in London, our foundation and many partners are hosting something called the Family Planning Summit. I am optimistic that it will be an opportunity for the entire global community to rally together behind the uncontroversial idea that all women should be able to decide when to have a child. The more we talk about this idea with our networks, the more likely it is that we can get a global movement going that helps policymakers do the right thing.
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The male foreskin is a highly innervated erogenous organ that is dense with specialized mucosa and over 20,000 high sensory nerve endings. It also acts as a natural buffer and lubricant during sex. Researching using fine-touch medical instruments shows it is the most sensitive part of the penis. www.livescience.com/health/070615_penis_sensitivity.html
These men should hear this side of the story before deciding to mutilate their penises.
And the research on HIV and circumcision is highly controverted. The South African Medical Journal and South African Medical Association both challenge the studies that claim circumcision reduces HIV. Numerous observational studies contradict the findings of the clinical trials. According to a report by USAID, "There appears no clear pattern of association between male circumcision and HIV prevalence—in 8 of 18 countries with data, HIV prevalence is lower among circumcised men, while in the remaining 10 countries it is higher." www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/CR22/CR22.pdf
Gee, I guess you need to go to these poor, undereducated women who are asking for safe, reliable contraception, and explain to them why they'll be so much better off with a few more kids to try and feed and clothe. Not to mention how much better off they will be, themselves, having pregnancy after pregnancy while poorly nourished and with minimal medical care available.
Yep, you're an expert, all right! Better get busy and set all those women straight, before they get any more silly ideas about controlling their own lives.
In the Third World, large families are a hedge against infant mortality. If you have just two children, the chances of them reaching adulthood are pretty much zero. But if you have ten children, chances are good that at least four or five will make it. And with five adult children, if one of them has no food, the other four can share a small amount of their own food. With just two adult children, if one of them has no food, the other would need to share half his food, which is a lot. And finally, when the parents get old and frail, it's easier to get help from five adult children than from just two.
Reasons why males don't use condoms, and why birth control must be female centered.
Put bluntly the fecundity of a popluation depends on the number and percentage of fertile females.
From the Briths site Netdoctor
1.Take the fresh condom out of the packet carefully. Avoid 'catching' it on your nails.
2.Do not blow it up, because this can weaken it.
3.There's usually a 'teat' at the end. Squeeze the air out of it.
4.Now roll the condom onto the erect penis. (Don't try putting it on before you're hard.)
5.Roll it all the way down to the base of your penis.
6.Some men lose their erection – through nerves – while rolling the condom on. This is now known as 'condom collapse'. If this sometimes happens to you, get your partner to put it on for you – rubbing you at the same time.
7.As soon as you've climaxed, hold the condom firmly onto your penis with your fingers, and withdraw from the vagina.
Take care not to spill any fluid.
8.Now, take off the condom, wrap it in paper or tissue, and dispose of it in a bin.
Also they are messy.
My earlier post gave the statistics on the "pleasure issue", not an irrelevant subject when discussiong reproductive activity. That from the U.S. Center for Disease Control.
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/sex_relationships/facts/condoms.htm
Thank you so promoting this issue.
I am a male, and therefore I have "inside information". Men do not like condoms, and will not regularly use them.
Don't believe me, see what the Center for Disease Control says:
Percent distribution of males 15-24 years of age by responses to specified statements, 2002:
"What is the chance that if you used a condom during sex, you would feel less physical pleasure?"
No chance 13.6%
Little chance 27.0%
50-50 chance 28.3%
Pretty good chance 19.4%
Almost certain chance 11.7%
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/abc_list_a.htm
National Survey of Family Growth by the Center for Disease Control.
One of my biggest problems with the system as it sits today is that women continue to shout the "my body..my choice" mantra with regards to abortion rights but even when the time has passed where it is an option men are still continuously cut out of the process. If the mother wants to give the child up fine...the father should have first right of refusal. This should not happen. Many times the fathers dont even know about the children or are deliberately lied too.
And if you want to speak of choices then when you make a CHOICE to sleep with a man, You make a CHOICE to have a child then you turn around and say "It is our body and our choice. Period." then the father of the child has NO rights other then those you magnanimously give him is that correct?
Male birth control cannot come too soon.
The issue I had with the article though is like many it refuses to talk about the fathers role. I dont disagree that in the first trimester, when abortion is most viable, that it is a womans choice. That being said however, once that point is past (late term abortions are illegal unless medically required for the health of the mother) then the fathers should have some say. As we stand now the mother gets to decide adoption, keep etc. The fathers are left with little to no information and in some cases are even deliberately lied to.
We have a tendancy in the US to extend prenatal decision to post-partum which is unfair to the father. Once the child is born BOTH parents should have equal say in the decisions affecting Thier child.
These things are a direct result of NOT having enough options for men while in effect having overkill for women.
I never use all caps but I am so excited to see someone state the obvious even if it really is controversial. This issue should be at the forefront of many different movements (environmental, world hunger, poverty, women's rights, world health) yet I seldom hear it.
A big problem facing our planet is over population.
That we have the answer to the problem and do not use it widespread is a crime!
Pregnancy decisions should be made by the head (or two) not by the uterus.
Family planning can lead to quality of life for both adults and children.
Thank you Melinda! It is nice having your bright mind on the side of reason and long term thinking.
Or are you just someone who sees the word "contraception" and immediately jumps to thoughts of "wild, promiscuous, irresponsible sex maniacs"?
b. clinton said one of the most effective way of giving back is thro. gov't policies. and obama said to him rules should be set for 3rd world nations to follow. charity is almost like a waste of time.
Really? Talk to Mark Rubio then.
See this article:
Meet ALEC's Equally Despicable Anti-Choice Cousin -- AUL
By Sarah Seltzer and Lauren Kelley, AlterNet
Posted on April 10, 2012, Printed on April 15, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/154947/meet_alec%27s_equally_despicable_anti-choice_cousin_--_aul
She & hubbie should give ...their own money to the poor or to the gov
& not attempt to confiscate other people's money too.