Contraception

Methods of Contraception: Contraceptive Methods for Either Sex

There are only two contraceptive methods suitable for either women and men: Abstinence and sterilization. Both abstinence and sterilization can be enforced or voluntary. Examples of forced abstinence are boarding schools, prisons, army barracks and camps, ships, hospitals, and nursing homes. However, in all of these cases, abstinence may also be practiced voluntarily. A good example for the latter is a monastery. Sterilization is most often a voluntary operation today but, in the past, it has all to often been forced upon “undesireable” groups of the population. These inhumane practices were usually justified with claims of “race improvement”, or “eugenics” (the science of producing “better” human beings). Such claims, having been discredited in many countries by various racist policies, are now no longer accepted. On the other hand, as a voluntary method of permanent contraception, sterilization is now becoming increasingly popular.