Skip to main content
Download PDF

La contraception pour les hommes — une cause perdue ?

Contraception for men — a lost cause ?

Basic and Clinical Andrology volume 22, pages 205–210 (2012)Cite this article

Résumé

Avant la disponibilité de la contraception hormonale féminine, les hommes des pays d’Europe occidentale, à travers l’utilisation du préservatif et la pratique du coït interrompu, avaient une grande partie de la responsabilité pour la régulation des naissances. En dépit de ce fait, le développement des méthodes hormonales masculines a reçu peu de soutien des divers acteurs qui pourraient favoriser leur arrivée sur le marché et leur distribution : l’industrie pharmaceutique, le corps médical, les bailleurs internationaux de fonds de recherche et les médias. Une déconstruction des représentations et valeurs sous-jacentes, mais rarement explicites, relatives aux rapports du genre nous permet de comprendre pourquoi la contraception hormonale masculine reste coincée dans le marasme qui prévaut depuis plusieurs décennies.

Abstract

Before the advent of female hormonal contraception, men inWestern European countries had a large share of responsibility for birth control through the use of condoms and the practice of coitus interruptus. Despite these practices, development of hormonal male contraception has not received support from the various players responsible for its finally reaching the market and being distributed: the pharmaceutical industry, the medical profession, international research funding agencies and the media. A deconstruction of underlying, but rarely explicit, representations and values, largely linked to an essentialist reading of gender relations, allows us to understand why male hormonal contraception remains blocked in the quagmire that has prevailed for several decades.

Références

  1. Heinemann K, Saad F, Wiesemes M, et al (2005) Attitudes toward male fertility control: results of a multinational survey on four continents. Hum Reprod 20:549–556

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Grady WR, Tanfer K, Billy JO, et al (1996) Men’s perceptions of their roles and responsibilities regarding sex, contraception and childrearing. Fam Plann Perspect 28:221–226

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Spencer B (1987) Studies in birth control provision for men (PhD thesis). In: Faculty of Medecine, University of Manchester, Manchester, p 2–87

    Google Scholar 

  4. Spencer B (1984) Young men: their attitudes towards sexuality and birth control. Br J Fam Plann 10:13–19

    Google Scholar 

  5. Eberhardt J, van Wersch A, Meikle N (2009) Attitudes towards the male contraceptive pill in men and women in casual and stable sexual relationships. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 35:161–165

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Johnson MH (1964) Social and psychological effects of vasectomy. Am J Psychiatry 121:482–486

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. UNAIDS (2000) Condom social marketing: Selected case studies. In: UNAIDS, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  8. Waites GM (2003) Development of methods of male contraception: impact of the World Health Organization Task Force. Fertil Steril 80:1–15

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Ringheim K (1993) Factors that determine prevalence of use of contraceptive methods for men. Stud Fam Plann 24:87–99

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Segal SJ (1972) Contraceptive research: a male chauvinist plot? Fam Plann Perspect 4:21–25

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Stokes B (1980) Men and family planning. Worldwatch Inst, Washington / USA

    Google Scholar 

  12. Spencer B (1988) La participation masculine à la planification familiale. Bulletin Médical de l’IPPF 22:2–3

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Spencer B (1999) La femme sans sexualité et l’homme irresponsable. Actes Rech Sci Soc 128:29–32

    Google Scholar 

  14. Spencer B (2001) Et Dieu créa… le genre. Infothèque Sida 2:4–9

    Google Scholar 

  15. Giami A, Spencer B (2004) Les objets techniques de la sexualité et l’organisation des rapports de genre dans l’activité sexuelle: contraceptifs oraux, préservatifs et traitements des troubles sexuels. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique 52:377–387

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Potts M (1994) Coitus interruptus. In: Corson SL, Derman RJ, Tyrer LB (eds) Fertility Control. Goldin Publishers, London, p 395–404

    Google Scholar 

  17. Potts M (1997) Sex and the Birth Rate: Human Biology, Demographic Change, and Access to Fertility-Regulation Methods. In: Population and Development Review. Population Council, New York, pp 1–39

    Google Scholar 

  18. Deys C, Potts D (1972) Condoms and things. Adv Biosci 10:287–297

    Google Scholar 

  19. Corradini A (1986) Brushing up the image of the Italian man. People 13:18–19

    Google Scholar 

  20. Leridon H, Sardon J-P, Collomb P, et al (1979) La contraception en France en 1978. Une enquête INED-INSEE. Population 34:1349–1390

    Google Scholar 

  21. Wellings K (1986) Trends in contraceptive method usage since 1970. Br J Fam Plann 12:57–64

    Google Scholar 

  22. Aitken-Swan J (1977) Fertility control and the medical profession. Croom Helm, London

    Google Scholar 

  23. Trussell TJ, Faden R, Hatcher RA (1976) Efficacy information in contraceptive counseling: those little white lies. Am J Public Health 66:761–767

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Rogow D, Horowitz S (1995) Withdrawal: a review of the literature and an agenda for research. Stud Fam Plann 26:140–153

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Meredith P (1982) Pharmacy, contraception and the health care role. Family Planning Association, London

    Google Scholar 

  26. Sub-committee of the Royal College of General Practitioners’ working party on prevention (1981) Family Planning: an exercice in preventive medicine. In: Royal College of General Practitioners, London

  27. Wellings K (1984) Defining the problem. In: Men, Sex and Contraception. Birth Control Trust — Family Planning Association, London, pp 5–15

    Google Scholar 

  28. Aitken-Swan J (1977) Fertility control and the medical profession. Croom Helm Ltd, London

    Google Scholar 

  29. Allen I (1981) Family planning, sterilisation and abortion services. In: Policy Studies Institute, London

    Google Scholar 

  30. Wellings K (1986) Sterilisation trends. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 292:1029–1030

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Allen I (1985) Counselling services for sterilisation, vasectomy and termination of pregnancy. In:Policy Studies Institute, London

    Google Scholar 

  32. van Kammen J, Oudshoorn N (2002) Gender and risk assessment in contraceptive technologies. Sociology of Health & Illness 24:436–461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. No authors listed] (1982) Hormonal contraception for men: acceptability and effects on sexuality. World Health Organization Task Force on Psychosocial Research in Family Planning, Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction. Stud Fam Plann 13:328–342

  34. Spencer B, Jones V, Elstein M (1986) The acceptability of the contraceptive vaginal ring. Br J Fam Plann 12:82–87

    Google Scholar 

  35. Diller L, Hembree W (1977) Male contraception and family planning: a social and historical review. Fertil Steril 28:1271–1279

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Dubois-Arber F, Jeannin A, Spencer B, et al (1999) Évaluation de la stratégie de prévention du sida en Suisse: sixième rapport de synthèse 1996–1998. Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive, Lausanne

    Google Scholar 

  37. No authors listed] (1996) Men’s needs and responsibilities. In: International Planned Parenthood Federation, London

  38. No authors listed] (2002) Choices. Involving men and boys in sexual and reproductive health and rights. In: International Planned Parenthood Federation — European Network, Brussels

  39. No authors listed] (1998) Literature Review for the Symposium on Male Participation in Sexual and Reproductive Health: New Paradigms. In: AVSC International and IPPF-Western Hemisphere Region, New-York

  40. No authors listed] (1998) Male Participation in Sexual and Reproductive Health: New Paradigms. Symposium Report. In: AVSC International and IPPF-Western Hemisphere Region, New York

  41. No authors listed] (1998) Male involvement: An annotated bibliography. In: International Planned Parenthood Federation, London

  42. No authors listed] (1998) Populaton Reports. La participation des hommes vue sous un nouvel angle. Population Reports XXVI — Numéro 2

  43. Green CP, Cohen SI, Belhadj-El Ghouayel H (1995) Male involvement in reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health. In: United Nations Population Fund Technical Report (New York). United Nations Population Fund, New York, pp 1–104

    Google Scholar 

  44. No authors listed] (2003) In their own right: Addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of men worldwide. In: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York

  45. Oudshoorn N (1999) Contraception masculine et querelles de genre. Cahiers du Genre 139–66

  46. Bland L (1983) Purity, motherhood, pleasure or threat? Definitions of female sexuality 1900–1970s. In: Cartledge S, Ryan J (eds) Sex and love: New thoughts on old contradictions. The Women’s Press, London, pp 8–29

    Google Scholar 

  47. Garcia R, Renshaw DC (1987) A contemporary prostitution accepting culture. Br J Sex Med 14:72–7

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive (IUMSP), centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois et Université de Lausanne, Biopôle 2, route de la Corniche 10, CH-1010, Lausanne, Suisse

    B. Spencer

Authors
  1. B. Spencer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. Spencer.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Spencer, B. La contraception pour les hommes — une cause perdue ?. Basic Clin. Androl. 22, 205–210 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12610-012-0191-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12610-012-0191-2

Mots clés

  • Contraception masculine
  • Rapports du genre
  • Régulation des naissances
  • Naturalisme

Keywords

  • Male contraception
  • Gender relations
  • Birth control
  • Biological determinism

Basic and Clinical Andrology

ISSN: 2051-4190