Urologists are walking around with heavier wallets these days as more men are getting vasectomies in the wake of SCOTUS’ overturning Roe v. Wade in July. But more surprising is that many of these men are filming the procedure and posting it to TikTok along with their reactions to the surgery itself.
The hashtag #vasectomy appears in hundreds of thousands of videos on the app. In many of the videos men film themselves before, during and after the procedure, and while some give information on each step of the process in order to encourage more men to get snipped.
The vasectomy procedure is safe, short and simple, according to the Mayo Clinic, and is essentially male birth control. A doctor cuts then seals the tubes that carry sperm so the man cannot impregnate a woman. There are two types of vasectomies: the incision method and the no-cut method. The former cuts into the scrotum, and the latter does not. The no-cut is the preferred type as it lowers the risk of infection and healing time is much less than the incision method.
One man who filmed his vasectomy, 23-year-old comedian and TikTok influencer Keith Laue, told Health magazine that “One of the things that surprised me is the sheer amount of misconceptions about vasectomies. I still have my testicles. I can still ejaculate. I don’t have low testosterone,” as reported by The New York Post. He and his partner didn’t want another child, so they determined that his getting the procedure done was the easiest and most cost-effective method to prevent another pregnancy, and that it is not just a woman’s place to be responsible for contraception.
I used to think about a 1/3 of the population was 1N$ane, now I’m convinced it’s 5o%©️✅
Watch the newest TikTok trend: getting a vasectomy to virtue signal about Roe https://t.co/YKF6xEUMdf
— CkSara (@ck_sara) August 20, 2022
Unlike Laue, about 60-70% of men asking for the procedure are doing so because of the SCOTUS decision, according to urologists interviewed by the Washington Post. One doctor said that the number of vasectomy consultations he sees has increased “300 to 400 percent,” whereas another doctor said that his practice website has seen an increase in traffic by a whopping “200 to 250%.”
Other men who posted videos of their vasectomy echo Laue’s sentiments on the ease of the procedure.
“I’ve had dental fillings with more hassle than this,” one user said.
“That’s not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be,” said another.
“It was an easy procedure. I would do it again,” said a father of three.
And thousands have responded to the videos:
“THANK YOU for showing other men how easy it is.”
“Every time I debate with a man about how easy this is, I’m going to show them you.”
“I got one too, it is pretty painless and the recovery was sooooo quick. It is 100% worth it.”
We live in strange times when private, personal decisions one makes about one’s health becomes public fodder by choice. While social media provides many benefits, it makes you wonder if it is also a vehicle for social contagion by encouraging people to make choices that are not necessarily good for them, almost a perverse form of peer pressure.
Or, as one Twitter user commented, this new trend of recording vasectomies is just another way to virtue signal about Roe v. Wade.
Snip, snip, hurray.