Vasectomies

>> Speaker A: This is how science. This is, you know, this is why science is dangerous. You know, science is like, science is fine, but science is like, oh, you know, theory, but, like, it's the science that's cutting people open. Back to privy. Privy is a podcast about bathrooms recorded from my home bathroom. I'm your host, Hunter Hoover, and I love

bathrooms. Welcome back. Uh, this is one of those, uh, the timeline's kind of interesting because, uh, and I've shared on the show, I pre record things. Uh, I have busier seasons in my life. And so, um, this episode kind of comes at the end of a large batch of prerecorded things from the summer that now will kind of be the first non pre recorded thing of the school year. Uh, as we begin to go back to school,

um, just a fun. I want to read, uh, now, I'm not gonna read it, but I got a text message from friend of the show, Michael, uh, wall. And out here in Oregon, they recently passed a bill, uh, to put women's, uh, feminine hygiene products in all the bathroom and in the schools, male and female bathrooms. Um, anyway, and the text message was just Michael's statement about how many tampons he had distributed to the bathrooms. And it's an

astronomical number. Um, in short, to fully stock just the high school bathrooms, all bathrooms, is about 500 tampons. Now, I've never seen that many of this product in one spot, but I imagine that cardboard box just filled to the top with these was a sight. Um, but they have been distributed, and as I have just indicated to Michael countless times. And the coming months will prove, I'm sure you guys will be the beneficiaries of these stories and who

knows? Maybe videos. But these kids at the high school, they're going to clog the toilets with them. There is no chance that these kids do not just flush copious amounts of tampons and thus, uh, completely sog the bog, I imagine. I'm a former custodian. I'm about a year and a half removed from the custodial life. But when I heard this was coming down the pipe, my custodial brain just kind of just went on overload. Um, to me, it's a terrible,

terrible idea. I don't know of many people who haven't been able to get feminine hygiene products, who needed them, uh, when they could just go to the nurse's office or the counselor's office, uh, or bring your own, uh, and if you can't afford them, they give them away free at the health department. You can get them. But no, now they are fully stocked in the bathrooms here in Oregon. And, uh, yeah, pretty soon the toilets are going to be fully stocked

with them, too. I'll tell you that for free. But, uh, today's episode is not about that. Um, one day here at privy, I'm a guy, and I'm going to be honest with you. I know I'm going to go out there and say it. I've never used a tampon. Never, um, felt the need to, um. I know there's the concept of a man pond where you put one up the backside to sop up the wet bog, but that seems like a generally bad idea. And I've never looked at one of these devices and thought to myself, man, I won't.

Huh. Things shaped like that just don't go back there. That's what you need to know. I'm not, like, an, uh, aficionado on these. I need to have. Maybe I'll have an episode with more than one or two ladies on the show, and we can just have a feminine hygiene hour. That'd be fun. Fun for them. It's probably going to be

uncomfortable for me. I grew up with no sisters, and so, uh, yeah, really, when I got married or started dating was when I became aware that these things were of active use in, uh, a woman's life. So there you go. Well, we're going to move on because, yeah, sometimes when we make an episode of privy, I try to put the reveal of the episode like, oh, what's

the topic this week? I try to put the reveal. I try to swish back the curtain like some sort of strange, creepy magician, which is stupid, because the title of the episode, which just scrolls across your podcast player the entire time I am yapping, has given it away from the beginning, and I realize it's dumb. Like, I get it, but here we are. Uh, but this episode, we're just going to just get it right out there. Just plant and

just talk about it. We're going to be talking about vasectomies, the history of vasectomies, and is there any etiquette around them? Now, I want to note, before we dive in here in privy, we try to keep things as family friendly as an episode about bathrooms and the things we do in bathrooms can be. We try to keep the squares to a minimum, the content as family friendly as we can. It should be noted this episode assumes sexual activity and discusses parts of the male human

anatomy. We've already talked about tampons, so let me put it this way. If the last five minutes have been too much. This one might be one to skip. Go listen to our latest guested episode with Austin and Gavin. It's a treasure. But if you feel these, uh, discussions are too much, move on. All right. And now, with that disclaimer aside, we can begin today. A vasectomy is generally described as the act of cutting or removing a portion of the vas

deference. More on that in a moment. In adult males, to sterilize and keep them from getting their spouse or partner pregnant. Um, now, if you're like me, which after I say this, you will find you are likely not. If you're like me, you are unaware of what a vas deference is until you begin to look into what vasectomies are. Uh, I have had this tube. I think it's a tube. I have had this, I think, most of my life, and I didn't know the stuff comes from down there. Here we

are. But if you're trying to figure out how didn't I know about this? I have two kids. All you need to know. You don't have to understand how everything works all the time. It will still work. I think MTV has made a market on 16 and pregnant just based on that idea. And that idea that we don't have to know how something works in order to go about pursuing it is going to prove more and more true

this week on this episode. But a vasectomy essentially cuts the vast deference, again, that tube in the male zone of whatever, so sperm cannot enter the reproductive environment. And that's as family friendly as I know how to say that. But where did we get the idea to snip the inside of male genitalia to make it quit working or quit working in a very specific way? Well, as with everything, there's history. Now, no matter what your opinion or perspective is, vasectomies

are forms of birth control. And while today is not a discussion of birth control, again, in, I would say, 75% of the types of birth control that exist, I am unqualified to speak well about it. Um, I don't know. She tried that when we were newly married, and it made her terribly sick. Uh, yeah. Anyway, but it should be mentioned that vasectomies are in this umbrella of birth control, and it has a complicated history in and of itself.

And much of that, it was viewed as the task of the women to undergo birth controlling procedures and methods, both chemically, much like the birth control that is common today, but also physically with, um, sewing, cutting, or damaging the female reproductive environment so that, uh, they cannot bear a child. Woof. But when we talk about male birth control, history shows us one very interesting group of

people. Now, I want to say here before we dive into this, because it is somewhat related, but the concept of it gets us to where the world of vasectomies begins to enter the fight. And this is a shout out to my young adults, uh, at the church. You know, it's an interesting thing. That's a concept I never really thought I would be doing. I never thought I'd be shouting out the young adults in my vasectomy history episode. But here we are,

and we need to talk about eunuchs for a minute. And the young adult crew knows that I'm somewhat fascinated with eunuchs, um, specifically in the Bible, but in ancient history. And I talk about eunuchs a lot with them because I think they allow us a peek into something very specific, different thing. But eunuchs in history were males who have been castrated or have had their nards chopped off. First of all, youch. Second of all,

they did this. It wasn't like they woke up and they said, you know what we should do today? We should lop some nuts. No, they did this because they understood that doing so would keep those men from then reproducing with the women around them. Now, you want this? Or more likely, the people in authority wanted this because I don't know very many eunuchs who signed up to be a eunuch. Some were born that way. Uh, they were put in that category because their, um, genitalia was marred from

birth. But traditionally, if you're a eunuch, you had eunuchism forced upon you. It became custom to have eunuchs as slaves, guards, um, or someone close to the royal family, a leader, as they would not be tempted to seize power and could not reproduce with the royal family and thus claim some, uh, claim to the royal line via their own child. The term eunuch is actually related to this idea of goodness, of mind you is goodness, is mind. It is that they are

well minded. They're going to mind themselves. The thought behind this is, well, they can't reproduce, so they can't have ill intentions with the women. Uh-huh. Now, I should note, unless all of the male genitalia was completely destroyed, I think they can still get jiggy with it. Uh, but many in these ancient cultures viewed and thought of eunuchs as not male and not female. They differentiated with them as this third type a neutered class

in society. In ancient history, what we need to know is they would just cut whole or some portion of the whole business off to keep men from reproducing. Not great. Um, as a person with business, not great. No. And if you wanted to undergo male birth control, something that the male can do to control for birth for thousands of years, that meant cutting off or removing some significant portion of your manhood.

As we have talked on, um, privy in the past, there came or a point in history where we, as people, wanted to understand how things worked. And when it comes to human anatomy and human function, the way we underwent discovering how things worked is we began to cut people open and study what was inside them. We've talked briefly about some of the religious and ethical things that had to get passed to get to the point where we can dissect a deceased human.

But as they did so, they began to find out how things worked. In 1830, Sir Asleep, Paston Cooper, an accomplished surgeon, published a work called Observations on the structure and diseases of the testes for nonmedical following listeners at home. That's the nuts. This was the first time much medical attention was given to that area. Um, but specifically, he studied the tube. That is the topic of conversation this week, the vast deference. Now. Hey, thanks, bud. Hey, really got a good look up

in there. Thanks for checking everything out. He really got underneath the hood. Cooper performed several experimental surgeries on dogs to investigate the anatomy further. So the wild thought is, so a person dies, a man dies, and Sir Astley Paston Cooper is like, may I dice and slice that dead body? I really need to check out his zone. Goes in, finds this tube, and he says, you know what? I think I need to go. I think I need to go do this to a dog. Such a wild

thought. I wonder what happens if we cut this tube on a dog. Let's find out. But this is why science is dangerous. Science is like, science is fine, but science is like, oh, theory, but it's the science that's cutting people open. That's all I'm saying about that. But with these discoveries came leaps in medicine as they figure out what's underneath the hood. Medicine and medicine, adjacent things begin to form and produce new findings.

But the first vasectomies performed were a far cry from the ones that people undergo today, and they were generally not positive experiences. Dr. Leon Goslin published the results of these experiments on dogs in 1853. Now, he did what he called, quote, surgical ligation and resection of the vast deference, or the vasectomy, and noted that four to six months after there was normal production, it left no effect to the production, just the distribution of the reproductive

fluids. Now, like Cooper before him, he noticed no change in the testicles themselves. So far, so good. Yippee. Kai the dog is on his way. But the first recorded vasectomy on a human for the purpose of sterilization was performed by Henry Clay Sharp, fitting last name there to sterilize inmates. This was an early form of eugenics, used in the late 18 hundreds. And the idea was this.

If you had someone who, morally or as sucky and awful as it is to say history sucks sometimes racially or mentally, did not meet the desires of what society wanted, eugenics said, make them not be able to reproduce. So sharp began sterilizing inmates so that way, we can cleanse that little section of the gene pool, so that way they do not produce, I guess, more inmates. It's wild that we have so much figured out at this

point. We have figured out that you can go in and you can cut this little, tiny tube, and it will cause a person to not have kids or not be able to have kids. But we haven't figured out that just because your dad's locked up doesn't mean you will do that, too. Baffling? Um, not great. But before this, traditionally here in the states, they would have castrated or crushed the testicles as punishment for sexual crimes. And so, in some ways, Sharp's offering

was an improvement. Like, uh, I don't know anyone who, when faced with the choice, we can totally just, like, pulverize pancake city, your rancheros, or we can just go cut this one tiny little tube and move on. Like, his idea sucked, but it was better than the previous one, with research and theory in his back pocket. The first of these punitive vasectomies was, uh, performed in 1899 on a

19 year old man. Now, it should be noted this inmate, as far as the record says, requested the vasectomy because he felt he had too much of a compulsion to masturbation and requested to be castrated as a way of curbing that desire. So, Sharp, he actually wanted to be castrated. He wanted the full Kendall effect downstairs. But Sharp convinced him to try out an all new method, the vasectomy. Read them and weep, kids. And the guy, okay, and this kid

reports that it worked? He said, yeah, thank you for cutting my ball tube. I have no desire. Like, okay, interesting. Um, it was viewed as a positive step forward, especially at the time, forced or voluntary reproductive control without the crushing or physical harm to men. But anytime you're going to come at somebody with a knife, there's going to be a law passed about it. In 1907, the first sterilization laws were passed here in the states. It's weird that we're passing laws about this.

And they allowed for the forced sterilization of criminals, rapists and the mentally handicapped. Now, again, not great. Uh, Sharp is said to have performed over 500 of these type vasectomies during his time as an Indiana reformatory vasectomizer. That's my word for it. Um, he also penned the Indiana plan in 1910. This plan called for a nationwide rollout of vasectomies to control the gene pool in 1927. Indiana is kind of a test case for vasectomies, I guess, but

I think that's because that's where this sharp guy comes from. But in 1927, Indiana passed another sterilization law which would not be repealed until 1974, almost 50 years, during which time it is estimated that over 2000 men were sterilized in Indiana under this plan. Prior to this, in Indiana it is estimated 6000 males underwent sterilization without consent in order to control criminality, mental disease and illness.

All total. Until the act of punitive sterilization was done away with and made illegal. Over 300,000 men had this performed on them. SiGMUnd Freud, um, he's the one that is like, hey, I think psychology is about like, seeing wieners and everything. When I think Sigmund Freud, this is probably a me problem, but when I think Sigmund Freud, I think he's kind of a pervert. Um, that's just me, but take it up with if there's a psychologist person out there that wants to

argue with me about that. Uh, privycast@gmail.com I'd love to have you on. Uh, but Sigmund Freud was like, you know what? I'm going to get a vasectomy. And from what I can tell, it seems to have been to produce more testosterone. His doctor, Eugene Steinoc, that is the most german flipping name I have heard in some time. Eugene Steinoch believed that the vasectomy would produce more testosterone and thus increase manliness and reinvigorate Freud. Now, Steinok says that this worked and, uh,

word kind of spread like wildfire. Oh, did you hear? You just go get the snip. And you're like a new man. You're less tired now. His findings were debunked in 1935. Record scratch like it does not increase testosterone. Sorry, gents. Freud's doctor was deemed a quack and died in exile. Woof. Where once sharp performed the cut to dampen the drive, Freud's doctor found and believed the opposite, that it would kick it into high gear. You know what reinvigorates me? Big swag of that polar seltzer.

So good. It's also terribly humid in Oregon right now. My can of polar seltzer is just dripping. Hey, you know what? This is the second can of polar Seltzer I've had in this bathroom today. I had a polar seltzer in the shower earlier. It was nice. Uh, this is the second one today in the bathroom. What a day. Two bathroom seltzer day. Love it. It's a good day. But in 1937, the first vasectomy reversal was performed by Ed Twyman. Ed. No, sorry. Forgive me. Mr. Twyman. Ed Twyman. Not Ed. And

C. S. Nelson. Okay. And back then, the vasectomy is pretty new to the game. It's not that widespread. And you go in and you get one. And who's the bloke that this point in the game is like, you know what? I actually want to undo that. I actually want to roll back that clock. I want to have another run at kids. Um, maybe just take yourself a freaking cold shower next time, partner. But it's at this stage that they began to actually study the effects and the impacts of a vasectomy on

a person. And in this study, in short, they're like, seems fine. And they found that 47 out of 50 men don't know how they got that. Fraction said that they would do it again. And, gents, I don't know if you know this, but you don't need to do it again because typically, vasectomies are permanent. So. How noble of you to say I would do it again, but you don't have to. Um, unless it doesn't take. But that's a different

story. It was not until 1971, shortly before the repealing of the Indiana plan and other such eugenics movements, that the act of, uh, cutting the vast deference. It's a stupid name. Why is it called that? Why isn't it called the sperm tube? I don't know who named it. It has to be, like, Latin. You know what we have? The Internet. What is vast deference? Latin for watch. It's not even Latin. Oh, it's the carrying away vessel. Huh. Interesting. Well, the carrying away

vessel, it's a misleading name. That's what you need to Vase. Every time I hear it, I think of Vaseline. Stupid. But it's not until 1971 that this whole act, like they've been doing it for almost 100 years on various people. It's not until 1971 that they go, you know what? Maybe we could use this as birth control. Like, we've been using it as birth control, but maybe we should see if people just want to volunteer themselves for it as a means to not having kids anymore.

Uh, up until this point, it was typically thought of that sterilization as a method of birth control was on the part of the lady via tubal ligation or other such means. Now, m the world was different. Like, we've come a long way. I think we have. Now. There's people that would make an argument, Bo, everybody's racist and sexist. But here's the thing. Back then, the thought was, women have kids, so if we don't want to have kids, it's up to the woman to be sterilized. That was the thought process.

But tubal ligation is more invasive, carries far more risks than getting the snip. That's what they found. They did all that research. They did almost 100 years of research and then countless years of research after 1971, when it got a lot more widely used. And they're like, you know what? This seems better by far. And then here's my freaking problem with science. So they figured it out. They're like, we can go in. We can snip this tube. We're going to call a stupid name, but we're going to snip

it. But maybe we need to make it better. Like, we got to come up with something new. What's the newest way to vasectomize a man? Well, they came up with a method called the no scalpel method. And when I read that, I went, tell me more. Because, um, a scalpel and your business do not go together. Like, generally speaking, you want to keep anything sharp miles away from that. Like, you don't want it to go there, stay away. Um, but a no scalpel method was invented in 1974 by Dr. Lee

Shuni. I'm going to screw this up. Dr. Lee Shunikiyang. Now, I didn't. Moving on. And that's, like, the end of the updates that they've made now. Uh, essentially a no scalpel vasectomy. Instead of making a cut in the sack, your doctor makes a puncture in the skin, and then they stretch the skin like a flipping balloon to, quote, see inside it. Woohoo. And then they use that as, like, they're able to, from that point, from the stretched out, flipping brain skin, to cut the tube and do the

thing. I would argue a puncture is still a hole. Like, just because you didn't use a small knife to cut it, you still made a hole. So, yes, scalpel free, but, like, still a hole in your nard sack. Um, and that brings us up to date. There hasn't been a lot of new technology in vasectomies. It's pretty straightforward. We put a hole in your sack, we're going to cut your tube, sew you back up, send you on your way, uh, a couple days rest, you're all set.

Here at privy, sometimes we have the privilege of looking to the future. And some things that the Internet, where everything is true, says that they have in the works for, uh, vasectomy technology. Because why would we not just settle for what works? Um, one is no needle anesthesia. Now, I like what I'm hearing. Uh, because, again, needles, much like scalpels, which are essentially a fancy knife, should stay very far away from all of your zone at all times. Uh, so a no

needle situation, pretty great. Um, the other is a planned reversible vasectomy. This, to me, is for the most waffly hearted man I've ever heard. He's like, I want to get a vasectomy, but I don't know if I want to get a vasectomy to be forever. If only I could get one, because it's what all the cool kids are doing. And then when it quits being cool, I can, like. It's like a tattoo, brother. If you're going to get

it, you're going to have it. But essentially, the planned reversible technology vasectomy, which I think is just stupid, but they do the same thing. Everything's the same. But instead of cauterizing, which is. Yeah. Oh, by the way, they burn the tube. Fun. Uh, fact, it's like a fun little barbecue. But instead of doing that, they put this gel or this stuff on it that seals it. So you have two tubes. Well, four,

I guess, because you got two. One on each side and four ends once they cut it, but they put this gel on it that blocks it. So that way, when the juice tries to go through, it can't. It's kind of like when you got yourself, um. For me, it's always chick fil a, but it's like when you got yourself that peach milkshake and you're just taking a big, fat. Draw that peach milkshake, and then just friggin the biggest clump of Georgia peach just right into the straw.

Nothing. And nothing going through that. Well, that's what this planned reversible vasectomy does, to your vast deference. It's like it puts the little peach clog right on the end of the tube. Nothing's going through there. They're also looking at male pill birth control. Now, they've had women's pill birth control for some time. Uh, and women's, for whatever reason, women's pill birth control often has fewer side effects, is pretty reversible, and so they're not finding

that to be the case with male pill birth control. And so it's not being researched a lot. I will note again, my wife went that route and it sucked. Uh, we stopped that process immediately. Um, but in the world of vasectomies, there's a lot of positive here. I mean, as positive as history can be about a procedure that cuts open and then cuts a part of your nutsack, uh, there's a lot of positive. The procedure is considered safe. Complications are relatively rare.

It's an outpatient procedure with more than half a million men getting one each year in the US. That is a staggering number, um, at least to me. But recovery is usually painless, uh, and they're viewed as, like, 99% effective. Now, I want you guys to go back to high school health class. Put yourself in there. I'm going to hit you with a fact. This is an ironclad fact. Teens, listen up if you want to go. If teens. No teenager listens to this, but hypothetical teens that might listen to this

if you plan. This is facts. You cannot stab someone with a sword if it is in its sheath. Are, uh, you with me now, you cannot dirty your sausage if you keep it in the package. That's facts. That's facts. I'm sorry, but it's true. The only 100% effective 100% of the time birth control is abstinence. That's facts. Anytime, anytime you play hide the bacon, you have a statistically higher probability of producing a miniature of you than if you did not play hide the bacon at

all. That's facts. And anyone can argue against it, but that's the truth. So, teens, get yourself cold shower, take a lap, drink. You know what? Just drink a train load of those freaking bang energies that's going to sterilize you anyway. But recovery is usually painless. Dang teens and their caffeine. It's pissing me off. But it's, uh, so widespread that there is even a world vasectomy day today. Did you know that? A world vasectomy day. We had to create a holiday

for it. We got a holiday for everything. Now, um, everybody gets a holiday. And so, in world, vasectomy day this year is on November 17. That's all I'm going to say, is you might want to keep your ears out for a special episode. As far as etiquette, here's the skinny. Men should be willing to talk about it with other men.

I would imagine if, hypothetically, I imagine that if a person was going to have a vasectomy, finding some dudes who have been there, done that, who are willing to talk at length about it might be helpful. Um, men, it's cheaper, easier, less risky for you to do this, and I would argue that it's your opportunity to put your nads on the line and put your money where your mouth is, because God knows the ladies have already done plenty of childbearing work. As for etiquette, it

comes down to this. Follow your doctor's instructions. Um, most your doctors are going to say, shave it, shower it, support it. Afterwards. It's the three s's. Shave, shower, and support. Um, you might say no. Well, Hunter, it's all very good. Like, thank you for the history lesson. It's too bad for those dogs that they went after their nards, but why don't you put your money where your mouth is? Well, um, I'll see you in November. This has been another episode of privy. Thank you

guys for listening. As always, we'd love for you to leave a rating and review. The five star options are preferred. And we give, uh, uh, some money to the wounded warriors project for every review, uh, that you leave, which is a reminder to keep pooping in the free world. But that free world was not always free. You can send us an email, privycast@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Comments, uh, episode ideas? If you want to be on the show, if you got a bathroom story to share,

hit us, uh, up privycast@gmail.com. Follow us on social media. We're at Privycast. Wherever you socialize on the Internet, we'd like to thank Kevin McLeod and Pottington Bear for the use of their music this week. Thanks, Kevin and Pottington. This has been another episode of Privy. Thanks so much for joining us. Wash your butthole. Keep pooping in the free world. And now, as always, don't forget to flush.