With four children under eight years old that keep us very busy, my husband and I are 110% certain we are done. And yet, whenever I bring up the topic of the big snip, he gets a telemarketing phone call he can’t wait to take or the grass in the yard suddenly grew six inches and needs mowed immediately.

And I know I’m not alone. A lot of women my age are nearing this tricky subject. I’ve chatted with my girlfriends about it on many occasions and overheard women on park benches debating the same question. Should my husband get a vasectomy?

The Big Snip: Are Men Just Being Babies?

Seeing that we’re dealing with a very personal and sensitive subject, we’ll just lump all the men in the world into two groups: those who would be cool with getting a vasectomy and those who wouldn’t.

This doesn’t mean one group would win in an arm wrestling competition over the other and it doesn’t mean one group is more comfortable wearing pink. Poppycock. What it curious however, is why men in the United States get way fewer vasectomies than their male counterparts in the rest of the world. In 2015, the United Nations reported that only 1 in 10 men in the United States get vasectomies.

Well men, the women of the world are asking: What’s the big deal?

Pain

It’s understandable that some men shy away from getting a vasectomy, after all, there is pain involved. The procedure takes 10-30 minutes and starts with a small needle to numb the area—nothing like an epidural needle mind you, which can be six inches long.

To make it even more comfortable for men, science has now introduced the “no-needle vasectomy.” Will wonders never cease?

A small incision is made and the vas deferens cut and cauterized. You’re out and back in time to catch the second half of the game. Afterward, there may be a few days of discomfort during which your wife will probably recount the 40 weeks of discomfort she felt while pregnant, multiplied by her number of pregnancies, and times that by the excruciating pain and drama of the birthing process. So yeah, there’s a bit of pain involved

Manhood

What defines manhood? Is it the amount of hair on a chest or the ability to huck a tire? Are two tiny tubes the fountainhead of a man’s masculinity? And what happens if you cut them? Is he less of a man?

Rest assured ladies and gents, the big snip does not affect a man’s hormonal levels nor his masculinity. His voice will not go back to prepubescent squeaks, but will remain a resounding bass and no one, I mean no one will know the difference.

Gaston vs. Atticus Finch

Where am I going with this? I honestly don’t know. There is no right or wrong, no judgement either way…just a simple curiosity into the minds of the male species. What’s going on in there guys? Why are vasectomies so scary?

I leave you with one final observation: while watching Beauty and the Beast with my kids this weekend, I realized Gaston would probably be an anti-vasectomy kind of guy, whereas Attius Finch—one of the greatest literary figures of all time—would probably take one for the team. So I guess when the talk about the big snip comes up in your house, you can ask yourself…am I a Gaston or an Atticus Finch?

Either way, I think we can all agree that you can’t measure a man by the amount of hair on his chest or by the length of his vas deferens.

Featured Photo by Jeremy Wong on Unsplash

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by Nicolette via Home And Garden