Vasectomy
Our Silent Solution
We've outrun the Four Horsemen of Disease, Famine, Pestilence, and War.
Hi, I'm Ample. "The globe is overburdened with people," I thought, and at 25, I acted with local anesthetic to receive the kindest cut of all.
Sadly, Ample's initial thoughts and feelings about vasectomies have changed.
Nearly a year after the operation, he often has physical discomfort.
A Woman's View of Vasectomy
I wondered if sex with a man who'd had a vasectomy would be different. Would it taste different? Feel different? Be less exciting without the worry of pregnancy? I got my questions answered -- sex is different!
I did notice a slight difference in the ejaculate's taste. Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought it tasted more smooth and subtle, less bitter...a nice change.
Sex did not feel physically different to me.
At first I did feel emotionally different about sex. For so long sex had meant risk of pregnancy, and all the stress that came with it. There was some minor risk-taking rush, because birth control methods do fail. With my partner before the vasectomy, I sometimes imagined the sperm swimming up my canal, blindly seeking my ovum. Having sex with a vasectomized partner, there was suddenly a void. No sperm. This void quickly changed from strange to serene. Only the sweet, hot juices of our lovemaking flowed into me -- nothing unwanted, like pesky little sperm!
I loved not having to worry about birth control. My partner didn't have to fumble with condom packets or pull out just as things were getting good; I wasn't squirting myself in the eye with foam or popping pills every day; we weren't holding our breaths waiting for my period to come every 28 days.
A woman with an "empowered" partner is a pampered woman!
Ample's RaDiCaL UC Berkeley Spring '98 Planning essay
I wrote this opinion piece for my Introduction to City & Regional Planning class. This survey course really got me thinking as it gave me an overview of the entire planning profession from its beginnings in the U.S. at the turn of the century to today worldwide. And you know, I was the only one who mentioned vasectomy as a possible planning solution to the overpopulation problem. I guess that makes me radical even for Berkeley! I encourage you to consider my convictions, and take them with a grain of salt. I hope it gets you thinking, too.
U.S. Cryobanks Semen Storage Program
Dr. Darryl Wolski's No-Scalpel Vasectomy Information
Planned Parenthood All About Vasectomy
Dr. Mirkin addresses an athlete's concern
AVSC International No-Scalpel Vasectomy: Good News For Men Considering Vasectomy
Vasectomy and Prostate Cancer: Results From a Multiethnic Case-Control Study
Thom Ward's poem: Vasectomy
Dr. Green's medical commentary He's performed more than a thousand, and had two himself