Letters to the Editor
-
@ durian joe
"a friend of mine who was both philosophically opposed to both marriage and having children (and who, perhaps not coincidentally, could not get a date)"....
Hey, was your friend nicknamed Brightstar by any chance?
Seriously though, this idea has been around for a long time, though the "remote control" bit is new to me. So long ago, that the first device was called a "phaser" in a bit of homage to Star Trek.
As long as I've been around, I've read stuff about "some terrific new invention by scientists that will make male birth control possible", and back then I was a teen and now I'm in my 50s, and the only birth control for men is still CONDOMS, which were around in my granddad's era. So.....don't be holding your breath waiting for remote control vasectomy to be available at the drugstore any time soon.
As long as men (like, um let's say, BRIGHTSTAR) can seriously talk about the awful sacrifice of pleasure they have to make if they wear a condom, and while Salon is hip-deep in whiny guys who complain about women "stealing their sperm in order to force them to become dads against their will and pay seven-figure child support payments", we really will not have intelligent discourse on birth control or achieve the dream that Senator Clinton has articulated, where abortion is "legal but very rare".
Because we still have deal with assholes who think that bareback sex is their RIGHT, and that it's only women who have to worry about birth control and pregnancy and who have to do all the work of preventing it. At the same time, the same assholes want to be able to knock up girlfriends (or one-night stands), and then if they can't compel the woman to an abortion, they DEMAND THE GOD-GIVEN RIGHT to walk away scott-free from any children they father!!! because as we all know, it is an outrage to be forced to support your own children, when the stupid taxpayers will do it for free.
Want birth control? want to be child-free? want to keep all your hard earned money for yourself and not pay a dime in child support? My friend, your answer is at the drugstore -- a giant size pack of Trojans (or similar high quality brand) and the economy size tube of spermicide, and you have yourself a 99.9999% guaranty of sexual and economic freedom. The odds don't get better than that anywhere on this planet.
But don't sulk in your parent's basement, waiting for "Australian reversible vasectomies" or for a new social order that will let you abandon your children. It ain't gonna happen, at least not while you are young enough to benefit from it.