There’s a video circulating around The Odyssey, entitled “When Guys Go Off Their Birth Control,” which appears to be an attempt at satire concerning side effects, difficulty attaining, and complications of birth control.
The four white males, in the middle of a heated match of Beer Pong, seem to be making fun of men in general, and making fun of how easy males have it when it comes to contraception.
Despite the good intentions to bring light to the controversial, unequitable, and vitally important issue of women’s reproductive rights, I still take issue with this video. In writing this, I’m trying as I go to figure out exactly why, so if anyone has further input, I’d love to hear your opinions.
These men in this video are poking fun at hypothetical complaints that men might utter in protest of condoms’ “inconvenience.” While they draw a satirical parallel, between the minor and inconsequential effects of using condoms and the momentous consequences and complications that women go through to obtain birth control or any kind of contraceptive, the important issue that this video takes on needs more serious attention than it gets.
The four men sarcastically whine at annoyances such as having to search for the free basket of condoms, having to suffer the humiliation of asking for condoms over the counter, having to pay a wild amount of 75 cents, as the characters lament, for condoms, and having to remember to actually put a condom on every time they have sex.
This video is really bugging me. I think the reason is this: by setting this scene for discussion of reproductive rights among a crowd of men, it makes the point they’re trying to make sort of painful. Everything they’re trying to achieve through humor, sarcasm, and satire here is really significant and valid; however, these men are mansplaining their way to equality.
I know that, at least from a very optimistic and uniform perspective, any discussion about and progress towards this issue is good. Still, however, women need to have their voices heard when we have to deal with inequality and injustice in the legislature and policy directly affecting our bodies.
It’s insulting that education on reproductive rights come from men in this video. It perpetuates the offensive cultural norm that views women as inferior to men.
Furthermore, in taking a look at the profile page of “Above Average,” the creators of the video, it is unclear whether or not these creators really advocate for reproductive justice or not. This makes me suspicious about the intentions of the video; are they really intending to push for women’s equality? Or are they simply joking around and taking this issue too lightly.
Especially in our painful and turbulent political climate, women’s reproductive health and justice is no joke. We need serious, consistent, and clear messages about the importance of this issue. We do not need any men, or people, to joke around and belittle our justice, nor do we need men to mansplain our issues for us.
Again, if anyone else has thoughts on this video, I’d love to hear them.
