THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In Ejaculate Responsibly, Gabrielle Blair offers a provocative reframing of the abortion issue in post-Roe America.

In a series of 28 brief arguments, Blair deftly makes the case for moving the abortion debate away from controlling and legislating women’s bodies and instead directs the focus on men’s lack of accountability in preventing unwanted pregnancies.

Highly readable, accessible, funny, and unflinching, Blair builds her argument by walking readers through the basics of fertility (men are 50 times more fertile than women), the unfair burden placed on women when it comes to preventing pregnancy (90% of the birth control market is for women), the wrongheaded stigmas around birth control for men (condoms make sex less pleasurable, vasectomies are scary and emasculating), and the counterintuitive reality that men, who are fertile 100% of the time, take little to no responsibility for preventing pregnancy. 

The result is a compelling and convincing case for placing the responsibility—and burden—of preventing unwanted pregnancies away from women and onto men.

1. Men are 50 times more fertile than women.
2. Sperm live for up to 5 days.
3. Women’s fertility is unpredictable.
4. Ovulation is involuntary, ejaculation is not.
5. Birth control for women is hard to access and hard to use.
6. Birth control for men is easy to access and easy to use.
7. Society clings to the idea that men hate condoms.
8. Vasectomies are less risky than tubal ligations.
9. We expect women to do the work of pregnancy prevention.
10. We don’t mind if women suffer, as long as it makes things easier for men.
11. Society teaches that the man’s pleasure is the purpose and priority of sex.
12. Women can be impregnated without experiencing pleasure.
13. Men cause all unwanted pregnancies.
14. We expect women to be responsible for their own bodies AND for men’s bodies.
15. We need to shift our focus to men.
16. Holding men accountable for their actions does not make women victims.
17. The uneven power dynamic between men and women is real and can turn violent quickly.
18. A woman can’t walk out on a pregnancy.
19. We’re not honest about pregnancy and childbirth.
20. The realities and burdens of parenting are unfathomable.
21. Pregnancy should not be a punishment.
22. Adoption is not an alternative to abortion.
23. There are zero consequences for men who ejaculate irresponsibly.
24. Sperm are dangerous.
25. Men have more control of their bodies and sexual urges than we like to admit.
26. Men can easily prevent abortions but choose not to.
27. We know what works.
28. This is how to take action.