This contribution discusses the use of the thermal method as a form of non-reproducing masculinity and agnotology as a theoretical framework to understand the non-production of contraceptives for people producing sperm.
Long abstract:
This presentation engages with user activism for male contraceptives, more specifically the thermal method as a way to stop sperm production. Birth control methods are a vital part of our world. The production of these technologies, however, has mostly focused on female bodies and people who can get pregnant, hence, today we have contraceptive methods that only cater to one user group. People producing sperm have no big alternatives to condoms and vasectomies, or so it seems. This has created an asymmetry that has been fostered by societal ideas of gender and sexuality as well as scientific ignorance. Some men and people producing sperm have decided to take matters into their own hands as a form of resistance and activism. The thermal method for people producing sperm works simply by cutting sperm production by increasing the temperature to which the testicles are exposed, hence, either warming testicles in water, wearing heated underwear, or attaching the testicles back to the groin. A group of users and producers have formed a community around this practice to support each other and exchange knowledge since the medical sciences have not contributed much to the development or testing of this method. This research is based on interviews with people who use the thermal method as a means of birth control and analyses this as a form of caring masculinity and activism against epistemic ignorance and hegemonic masculinity.