'That just sounds bizarre': factors affecting heterosexual college students' perceptions of new sperm-targeting contraceptives.

Contraceptive responsibility has historically fallen on women in the context of heterosexual relationships, often resulting in a perceived burden on their emotional and reproductive health. We conducted in-depth, individual interviews with women and men in college to investigate factors influencing the choices they make regarding contraceptive use and more specifically their perceptions and willingness to try new sperm-targeting contraceptives. Thematic analysis revealed factors at a societal, interpersonal, and individual level affecting participants' perceptions and imagined decisions. Societally, a perceived gendered divide continues to exist placing primary responsibility for contraceptive use on women. Interpersonally, the context of a relationship increased partners' feelings of empathy and willingness to try alternative contraceptive methods; and individually participants remained concerned about their own sexual and reproductive safety. Findings indicate that societal level norms need to be shifted towards the acceptability of sperm-targeting contraceptives or other versions of contraceptives that act on male bodies, in addition to a greater focus on their development. It is proposed that this would help to ease the continued undue burden placed on women for reproductive health.

Conformity to masculine norms predicts US men's decision-making regarding a new male contraceptive.

Health decision-making is often explained by affective and cognitive processes, but this processing is rarely explored in relation to gender norms. We investigated how conformity to specific masculine norms is linked to the affective and cognitive processes that lead to US men's decisions regarding a new male contraceptive. US male college students (N = 151) completed an online survey. They read a description of a long-acting reversible contraceptive, then completed questionnaires measuring their affective and cognitive responses, their information-seeking and willingness-to-try the contraceptive, and their conformity to masculine norms. Participants reported less willingness-to-try the contraceptive when they endorsed masculine norms regarding men's Power Over Women and concern with Heterosexual Self-Presentation, and these effects were consistently mediated by beliefs about its negative impact on sex. Positive emotions predicted willingness-to-try and information-seeking but were unrelated to masculine norms. This broadens our understanding of how conformity to specific gender norms impacts health decision-making processes.