title: Would women trust their partners to use a male pill?
abstract: Despite a renewed interest in the development of hormonal contraceptives for men, many discussions about the potential acceptability of a 'male pill' end by speculating whether women would trust their partners to use the method reliably. To determine the views of women, we undertook a survey of 1894 women attending family planning clinics in Scotland (450), China (900) and South Africa (544). In all centres over 65% of women thought that the responsibility for contraception falls too much on women. More than 90% in South Africa and Scotland thought that a 'male pill' was a good idea, with Chinese women (71% in Hong Kong and 87% in Shanghai) only slightly less positive. Only 13% of the total sample did not think that hormonal male contraception was a good idea and only 36 women (2% of the total) said that they would not trust their partner to use it. 78% of Scottish women, 71% of Shanghai women, and 78% of white women and 40% of black and coloured women in Cape Town thought that they would use the method. This survey should dispel the myth that women would not trust their partners to use a 'male pill' reliably and illustrates the potential market for the method.
authors.affiliation: Contraceptive Development Network at Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Centre for Reproductive Biology, The University of Edinburgh, 37 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh EH3 9EW, UK.
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Glasier
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anakwe
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Everington
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: van der Spuy
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002681:China; D003267:Contraception / Q000523:psychology*; D003272:Contraceptive Agents, Male; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013019:South Africa; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D003272:Contraceptive Agents, Male