GENDER STUDIES Can men be trusted with birth control? BY MARY ANN SORRENTINO

Two separate news stories recently touted advances in the development of a so-called "male contraceptive."

One story came out of Australia, where 55 men, treated by a research team, claim to have been "100 percent" successful in avoiding impregnating their sexual partners. The researchers warn, though, the sample of men is small, and that the tested drug may not become available for a long time. The second study, involves making male monkeys "safe" for their pregnancy-averse partners by tampering with their immune systems. There were two major drawbacks here. The contraceptive was only 70 percent effective, and many of the monkeys remained permanently sterile after the messing with their immune systems.

Finding a way to transfer the burden of responsibility for birth control to men has been a Holy Grail for some feminists and other social critics for centuries. Though I consider myself a feminist, I have never had much truck with the male contraceptive frenzy.

Why?

I think women would be insane to leave the risk of becoming pregnant up to their male partners.

Birth control, as women know, requires a high degree of commitment and discipline to be successful. You have to take the pill religiously (or in the case of Catholics and some others, less-than-religiously, but faithfully nonetheless). You must maintain and inspect the diaphragm and ensure its regular and correct use. You must make sure you couple foam with condoms to cut the risk of failure in half.

Men have been telling women, "Don’t worry, baby, I took care of it . . ." since the first unplanned pregnancy came after the utterance of such promises eons ago. And women have been raising the progeny of failed promises from the beginning of time, thereby limiting their own freedom to spend their lives doing other things. Even women whose spouses’ vasectomies were meant to eliminate fears of pregnancy soon found out that a divorce or the husband’s death can raise those fears all over again.

If women wish to avoid pregnancy, they can either avoid sex or take the matter of birth control into their own hands. The person who stands to suffer the brunt of contraceptive failure must do all she can to ensure her own protection. Effective contraception is not for those who fail to remember the location of their socks (after years in the same drawer) or who "forget" to refill the ice cube tray because it’s too much work. Family planning isn’t for those who would trip over the garbage near the back door rather than carry it out without being told, or who routinely forget birthdays, anniversaries, and Valentine’s Day (even when the whole world is festooned with red heart reminders weeks in advance).

Smart women know that the only man they can trust with such an important decision is their gynecologist — who these days is often a woman.