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thornhappy -> Men afraid of babies? Maybe not! (3/21/2010 1:03:47 PM)
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Hi folks--
I came across an interesting article about which sex would be more pleased if an unplanned pregnancy took place, and it was surprising to me. I've heard (prevailing wisdom) that the guys would be horrified, but that's not what a survey found.
"The survey found that the vast majority of sexually active straight people in that age group would prefer not to be parents just yet: "86% of men and 88% of women say it is important -- 74% of men and 80% of women describe it as very important -- to avoid pregnancy in their lives right now." Yet 7 out of 10 pregnancies among twentysomethings are unplanned, 19 percent of those who are not trying to get pregnant said they use no contraception, and close to a quarter are using it inconsistently. Why? Well, there's still a stunning amount of ignorance about birth control and fertility -- for example, over 40 percent of men and women surveyed believed they'd have a 50/50 chance of getting pregnant while using the pill over a year, and close to 50 percent of men and 60 percent of women 18-29 think it's "at least slightly likely" that they're infertile. (Way to go, fearmongers!) "Magical thinking" was also a factor, with around 40 percent of men and women admitting they believe that, regardless of contraceptive use, "when it is your time to get pregnant, it will happen."
But ambivalence also plays a role. Around half of men and women said they'd be interested in parenthood now "if things in their lives were different." And then there's the part Hess noticed. She writes that when asked to consider how they'd respond to an accidental pregnancy, Forty-three percent of young men responded that they would be "a little pleased" or "very pleased" by the news; only 20 percent of women answered the same. Men also proved more comfortable with an unplanned pregnancy at an earlier age: Thirty-four percent of men 18-19 said they would be pleased. By the time they reach age 20-24, 42 percent of men said they would be pleased. And over 50 percent of men aged 25-29 would be pleased by the news. Remember: this is only among men who deemed it "important" that a pregnancy not occur at this junction.
Meanwhile, between ages 18 and 24, only 16 percent of women would be "pleased," and that number only goes up to 29 percent for women in their mid-to-late twenties."
I was taken aback by just how many pregnancies are unplanned in the younger group (that's the same age group that accounts for most divorces btw), and the lack of basic knowledge about contraception. But even among people that know contraceptive techniques, the behaviors don't match the knowledge. Damn, nothing has changed since the '80s! We had the same problems then, and you'd think that 20 years or so later things would change.
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