Birth Control: Equal Responsibility?

When it comes to birth control, partners should share responsibility, although men tend to think that responsibility falls on women. This was highlighted in a poll, which was carried out by Meetville.com (dating app to find the right person) between 8/28/14 and 12/3/14.

65,477 voters have given their answer to the following question: “Who is responsible for birth control: man or woman?” From the USA - 53%, from Canada 5%, from Britain - 13%, Australia – 6% and other countries – 23%.

Men still expect women to take responsibility for such an important issue. Ray Filar, a freelance journalist, states: “The lack of male contraceptives places the onus of contraception squarely on women's shoulders. With condoms sometimes an unsatisfactory solution in long-term relationships, women are made into gatekeepers of sex, responsible for all precautions, reprehensible where precautions fail. Men are imagined to be overgrown children, their interest in family and fertility denied.”

The question “Whose fault is it?” always rises when an unplanned pregnancy occurs. Dr. Marcie Bianco, an adjunct associate professor at Hunter College, thinks: “On one hand, women are responsible for "taking care of the situation," while simultaneously fighting all the legal and societal preventative measures — from gawking comments about one's sexual habits to the increasingly limited and cost prohibitive access thanks to Congress and the courts — in place that make it frustratingly difficult to procure said contraceptives.”

Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, is sure that responsibility for birth control has social implication as well. The fact that most birth control methods are created for females, made men consider a woman more responsible for birth control.

Meetville, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.