License to Roam

"I am out of the baby making business."

 

His words flash across the screen.  I sense enthusiasm over regret - potential freedom?  Dare I say that he feels he has a license to roam?

 

I thought about it for a minute.  As a woman, I realize that I am responsible for birth control and protection from disease.  Regardless of how much I hate the expense and the reality that it is a Burden that I must bear, it is one that I do happily rather than deal with the consequences.  (This should be past tense as my life does not involve matters that would require me to take such precautions anymore!)

 

When a man also takes on this responsibility, shares the expense, or even takes matters into his own hands... I am impressed.  Because, well, it is not just the woman's responsibility.  But there is a point when I start to wonder if a protected/responsible man isn't a dangerous man... a man with freedom from consequences.  

 

I first heard the word vasectomy when I was in junior high, I think.  My friend's dad had such an operation in the 70's after his youngest child was born.  I remember finding out what it meant, but not caring that much one way or the other.  

 

I don't think I thought twice about vasectomies again until... well until I was in my early 30's and discovered that men, my age, were having them.  Which surprised me.  I figured that any thought of cutting and snipping and using a knife, down there, would send men into a panic and scurrying toward the nearest door. 

 

But I was wrong. 

 

The snips and the cuts and the loss of that ability to procreate didn't seem to matter to them much.  It seems like a trend in the 30 something male community (those men that I know at least).  They are simply finished with the baby making process...

 

which could mean that they will likely enter midlife (and a midlife crisis?) without fear of "accidentally adding a child to their families.

 

Which, could mean, that they feel a sense of freedom.  For the first time in their adult life, they don't have to worry about procreation, accidents, virility, sperm count...they are free to explore their options and their opportunities without the same consequences.  "A license to spill..." a guy friend explained.  

 

I have heard it suggested that birth control gave women more freedom to explore their sexuality.  I wonder if a vasectomy gives men the same sense of freedom - not that they needed an increased sense of freedom when it comes to such matters... but still?

 

The modern man seems to be okay with losing his ability to procreate and his sperm count to receive his license to roam!