Inside the race to develop a better male contraceptive
DANIEL DUDLEY, 28, IS A BUSY MAN. The medical resident at Valley Medical Center in Washington is an active hiker, an amateur chef—he’s currently learning how to cook Indian cuisine—and a proud “father” to two dwarf rabbits, whose antics he chronicles under the Instagram handle @bunnyzaddy. He’s also at least partly responsible for the creation of a new male contraceptive.
Over the past five years, Dudley has volunteered for three separate clinical trials of three male contraceptive methods. He’s taken a daily pill, rubbed a hormonal gel on his chest and received an injection of hormones into his left butt cheek. If all the methods were available today, he says, he would “totally use” the injection for its longlasting convenience.
Dudley, who is in a long-distance relationship with his partner Adrienne Ton, wants to do his part to increase contraception options for men and take the burden of pregnancy prevention off women, “which is an injustice,” he says. “There’s been much less money and effort put into safely and effectively lowering men’s fertility.”
Women today bear the greatest responsibility for preventing pregnancy, with nearly a dozen options for birth control, including longer-term solutions like the IUD implant and short-term strategies like the diaphragm and vaginal ring. For a century, men have had only two: the condom (with a failure rate of close to 20%) and the vasectomy, which is considered largely irreversible and involves minor surgery. There has not been a new commercial contraceptive for men in several decades.
This story is from the June 18, 2018 edition of Time.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 18, 2018 edition of Time.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Why We Over Spend
The rise of frictionless payments makes it easy to keep buying-whether we can afford to or not
Breaking New Ground
Sunny Choi is heading for Paris, where her sport-yes, sportwill make its olympic debut
Company Man
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is getting down to business in a country that feels shortchanged by his election
Letting Go of My Debt Shame
Getting out of debt is a group sport, not a solo mission.
The Fight to Free Evan
On March 29, 2023, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on bogus espionage charges. He remains imprisoned in Moscow-a political hostage in his parents' homeland. Inside the struggle to bring him home
No recession? Thank women
REMOTE WORK ALLOWED ALYSON VELASQUEZ TO JUGGLE her demanding roles as a Wells Fargo talent recruiter and as a mother of two young children, including a son with special needs.
The D.C. Brief
TO LIBERALS, MITCH MCCONNELL IS a master of the political dark arts, willing to do anything to serve his conservative aims. He enabled multiple GOP White Houses to play the long game.
Pakistan's generals fail to fix an election
PAKISTAN'S WORSTkept secret is that its military dominates its government. Whether to safeguard the nation against chaos or to protect their own privileged access to power and wealth, its generals have manipulated the country's politics for decades. Pakistan's voters, like voters elsewhere, want change.
Texas' scorched Panhandle
A million acres swept by fire
The pains and paintings of Frida Kahlo, reanimated
FRIDA KAHLO'S EARLY 1940s self-portraits, in which monkeys hang from her neck, may seem playful. In reality, she painted them during a suffocating period when she was tangled in a messy divorce and desperate for work.