Ejaculate Responsibly Campaign

Ejaculate Responsibly Campaign
A pro-choice AND pro-life male accountability campaign
Spring 2024
 
When your bodily fluids have the potential to cause harm (such as unwanted pregnancy and/or exposure to STIs), you must be ethical, intentional, and accountable for your sexual decisions and ejaculation.
 
“Men mostly run our government. Men mostly make the laws... if men were actually interested in reducing abortion, it didn’t need to take fifty years [after the fall of Roe v. Wade].
At any point, men could have eliminated elective abortions in a very short amount of time—a matter of weeks—without ever touching an abortion law, without legislating about women’s bodies, without even mentioning women. All men had to do was ejaculate responsibly.
They chose not to. Today, they continue to choose not to” (Blair, 117). 

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What inspired this campaign?
February 14—March 24, 2024 is the nation's largest anti-abortion campaign: 40 Days for Life. The Women’s Center’s Ejaculate Responsibly campaign (a poster series with twelve unique messages) is an invitation to think differently about abortion, sexual politics, and accountability. This awareness campaign is inspired by Gabrielle Blair’s (2022) book, Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion. 
 
The purpose of this campaign is to provoke deeper interrogation of the pro-life/pro-choice dichotomy, which is a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different. Using Blair’s framework, we aim to bring a fresh perspective through awareness and attention to men’s choices and their primary role in causing unintended pregnancies. Knowing this, how can we change it?
 
Ending unintended pregnancies and abortion is simple!

• Condom usage is the bare-minimum requirement for responsible sex. Men[1] must take initiative to supply their own condoms and use them correctly during each sexual encounter, every time. This must also be done without being asked, regardless/independent from the birth control choices their partner makes.
• Getting a vasectomy

 
Men are responsible for their own sperm—they choose where it is placed. Men must be ethical, intentional, and accountable for potential harm caused by their sexual decisions and ejaculation (whether causing pregnancy or infecting a partner with STIs).
 
The choice to prioritize one’s own desires/pleasure at the expense of others is an example of entitlement rooted in power inequality and privilege. Unfortunately, this is rarely discussed. There are many reasons for this, mainly that “our society is set up to protect men from the consequences of their own actions” (109).
 
How have men’s choices impacted women?
Historically and today, we live in a patriarchy. A patriarchy promotes and centers male/masculine privilege and maintains systems in which most positions of power, authority, and control are dominated by men. Putting the burden of all sexual and reproductive responsibility on women is a form of male privilege and sexism. While men have the most control and choice in the context of sex, it is women’s choices and bodies are endlessly critiqued, controlled, punished, and shamed. Despite how patriarchy naturalizes (“this is just the way things are”) women being over-responsible and men being under-accountable, women are never responsible for men’s behavior. Men are responsible for their own choices, behavior, and bodily fluids.
 
Men have the most control and choice in the context of sex by:

• Causing pregnancy—a woman cannot get pregnant without a viable sperm
• Choosing where they deposit their sperm
• External/ “male” condoms are usually free, accessible, and have no side effects. Internal/ “female” condoms are hard to find and rarely free. 
• Vasectomies are low-cost, low-risk, reversible, and one-time effective procedures that only take a few minutes. Vasectomies are often covered by insurance.
• Birth control for women is often not free or accessible, requires multiple follow-up appointments and ongoing monitoring, and has many dangerous physical and mental health-related side effects. Emergency contraception is also expensive, usually $30-50 per pill.

 
Pregnancy Concerns

• Pregnancy itself can put women at significant risk, including death.
• Professionals from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states, “risk of death associated with childbirth is approximately 14 times higher than that with abortion.”
• “The United States, one of the richest countries in the world, is ranked #56 in maternal mortality—that's dead last among industrialized countries” (Blair, 95). 
• While women of color are sometimes sterilized without their consent, white women often are denied permanent birth control solutions that they want—such as tubal ligations, which is a high-risk surgery compared to options for men.

 
These differences matter and impact women’s lives long-term, especially in the context of our social and economic systems that have been set up to intentionally pay women less and/or not be compensated for their labor at all.
 
Gender Violence Impacts  
In addition, the prevalence of men’s sexual and relationship violence are significant factors that take away the reproductive choices of women.

• 42.2% of SCSU students who identify as women have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime (2023 College Student Health Survey). 
• “Murder is the leading cause of death for pregnant women, often committed by the man who impregnated them” (Blair, 86). 
• Most teens who become pregnant are impregnated by adult men over age 20.  
• Sexual coercion and abuse are statistically common and normalized experiences.

 
Conclusion
People of all sexual orientations and genders who want to have sex can have wonderful, fulfilling sex lives without causing pregnancy.
 
There are many ways to experience sexual pleasure without the risk of pregnancy: masturbation, using hands/fingers/mouth/tongue to stimulate your partner, using sex toys, or only having sex with people who are unable to cause pregnancy.
 
Abstinence is also a great option for some. After all, let’s be clear: no one is entitled to sex, ever. 
 
Responsible ejaculation is both a pro-choice AND pro-life solution that is not rooted in controlling, coercing, or forcing women to give birth. This solution places responsibility where responsibility belongs: it is men’s responsibility to ensure they don’t impregnate. Men must take personal responsibility for their own sperm. 
 
We need to raise the bar for men. We share these messages because:

• Men must be as responsible as women for their own sexual and reproductive health and choices.
• Men have the power to reject the confining script offered by patriarchal society.

 
We believe in men’s ability to make safe, thoughtful, and equitable choices that respect women.
 
We believe men can and must ejaculate responsibly.  


[1] Binary language is used for the purpose of conciseness. When we reference men we are referring to cis men, people who have sperm, and people assigned male at birth (AMAB). When referencing women we are referring to cis women, people who have the capacity for pregnancy, and people who are assigned female at birth (AFAB). 

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• Campaign description and message examples: Link HERE
  
• Ejaculate Responsibly video: Link HERE