Men and masculinities in qualitative research on vasectomy: perpetuation or progress?

ABSTRACT

Although vasectomy is a safe and highly effective method of contraception, uptake is variable globally, with scope for increased engagement in high income nations. Very little qualitative research has been published in recent years to explore men’s perspectives on vasectomy, which represents a key opportunity to better understand and strengthen men’s contribution to reproductive and contraception equality. This paper takes a scoping review approach to identify key findings from the small but important body of qualitative literature. Recent masculinities research argues that, despite some expansion in ways of being masculine, an underpinning ethos of masculinist dominance remains. Extant research on men’s attitudes to vasectomy supports this ambivalent picture, indicating that while there are extending repertoires of masculinity for men to draw on in making sense of vasectomy, many remain underpinned by masculinist narratives. There remains scope for education and health promotion ensuring vasectomy is viewed as a suitable and safe option by more men of reproductive age. Increased uptake of vasectomy may also help shift the longstanding social expectation that women take primary responsibility for contraceptive practices, challenging gender discourses on contraception.

KEYWORDS:

• Vasectomy
• masculinity
• contraception
• qualitative research

Data availability statement

This paper analyses published literature.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 We are also assuming all men who took part in these studies were cisgender, as there was no suggestion that any were transgender or gender diverse. Transgender men would have been ineligible to participate in a study on vasectomy, given they were not born with the reproductive organs which vasectomy augments, and although some transgender women may be eligible for vasectomy, they would have more appropriately been called women in these studies, and none were. Gender diverse people assigned male at birth may be eligible for vasectomy, but no participants were described using the language of gender diversity, such as non-binary or genderqueer. There was also no disclosure of variation in sex characteristics (sometimes called ‘intersex status’) among any participants in these studies.

Additional information

Funding

The Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW Sydney receives funding from UNSW Arts and Social Sciences, and the Australian Government Department of Health.