Frenchmen experimenting with ‘contraceptive underwear’ as women reject the pill

Some Frenchmen are turning to a novel but old-fashioned approach to birth control – supportive underwear that renders them temporarily infertile - as women turn away from hormonal contraception over health concerns. 

One man told The Times of London to “think of them as a push-up bra… for your balls.”

The participants are part of a growing contraceptive movement among young men in France that hopes to address the gender imbalance around birth control. The difference was especially significant in France, which banned vasectomies under a Napoleonic law forbidding “self-mutilation” until just 2001.

The Times attended a workshop at a bar in southern France where men are taught to sew the custom codpieces.

Erwan Taverne, the teacher at the Toulouse workshop, explains that the ideal temperature for sperm production is a few degrees below body temperature - which is why testicles are outside the male body.

These underpants lift the testicles up toward the body, raising the temperature about two degrees. After wearing them for about three months, a man’s sperm count falls to the point where he is effectively sterile.

"Thermal contraception" was first proposed by a Toulouse doctor in the 1970s. Initial experiments suggest this method is both effective and reversible, but there have not yet been any large-scale studies.

“I’m making my second jockstrap; it’s not perfect, but it’s only the second time in my life that I’ve tried to sew anything,” says workshop attendee Pierre Delepine, 26, who has been using the method for the past year and a half.

“My girlfriend used to be on the pill. She had all the usual side-effects: loss of libido, mood swings, acne… So she didn’t want to go back there.”

Delepine goes in for a fertility test every three months to confirm that his sperm count is below 1 million sperm per milliliter. To compare, the ejaculate of fertile men contains at least 15 million sperm per milliliter.

An expert interviewed by The Times said men are stepping up with regards to birth control as women, spurred by #MeToo, reassess gender norms.

There has also been a growing movement of French women rejecting hormonal contraception, citing concerns over how it affects their health.

Last year, France announced that birth control would be free to all women up to age 25, up from age 18.