TLDR Vasectomy

The Experience

I used Dr Snip.

I went in with a partner who had ironically been present for this operation 3 or 4 times.

We walk in. I fill out some forms.

The nurse kindly says "Sooo, how many kids have you two had...?"

We burst out laughing.

The procedure takes twenty minutes and you feel at most a tiny pinch.

While they're doing it, we have a discussion about how urologists hate this clinic, because the lack of general anaesthesia means they can do 5-10 operations in the time a traditional approach can do one.

You pay a little over a thousand dollars and get around four hundred back on Medicare (at the time).

A month later you provide a sample to pathology. It will be one of the least sexy experiences of your life.

That's it.

Why (for me)

As far as I'm concerned, my blood is cursed. While that curse has worked out in an unexpectedly interesting and useful way in my particular case, it was only possible because of unthinkable suffering and the fact that an awful lot miraculously went right. Nobody should have to go through that, and nobody should need this much to line up.

I flat out, categorically, refuse to pass this crap onto an unwitting newborn.

Raising a child is a massive stressor that you can't get away from. That is absolutely lethal to my combination of conditions. Agoraphobia would also make it logistically impossible.

I also have too much to do already, and add raising a child to the mix would mean having to take large chunks out of my creative output. Children inherently change your priorities, and it would be deeply unfair for those two things to have to compete with each other, so I refuse to go there.

Also, my living situation is not suitable for cohabitation.

Social Context

This operation was inexpensive for what it was, uncomplicated, painless, and both simple to access and to prepare for and recover from.

It is impossible to not compare this to the experiences most women have accessing contraception. Every single method is vastly more problematic than what I went through on basically every axis.

Oral contraceptives must be paid for then taken every day, significantly disrupt hormonal configurations, creating a wide range of unpredictable and long-lasting side effects. IUDs require a minor surgical procedure with associated costs and risks. Accessing a tubal ligation is many orders of magnitude more difficult and costly than a simple online booking, and most surgeons are extremely iffy about doing the procedure at all.

A vasectomy is a cheap, quick-and-easy one-and-done with minimal risks and nobody will ask you to get your partner to sign off on it. And that is framed as the "big sacrifice."

This is a piece of equity that is actionable at the individual level, not the systemic one. Step up, guys. This should just be the default.

As an aside, family law is extremely good at punishing those who think their genetics are God's gift to the world and want to start a dynasty with no effort to raise or care for children.

Checkin

Version: 1

Written: 2025-12-22

Written on: 7.5mg olanzapine since 2025-11-11 - likely causing significant cognitive impairment

Mental health was: poor - estimate 25% brain