Alpha Dad Gets Snipped

Death, Sex & Money

• Episode: Alpha Dad Gets Snipped
• Website: Death, Sex & Money
• Feed URL: http://feeds.wnyc.org/deathsexmoney
• Duration: 00:19:06
• Published: 2014-07-02 06:00

In a lot of ways, vasectomies couldn’t have asked for a better spokesman than Australian Clint Greagen: weightlifter, Australian football fanatic, loving husband, and stay-at-home father of four who blogs about pretty much everything -- including the time he got his vas deferens cut by a man named Dr. Snip.

Here in the U.S., the pill is the most commonly used form of birth control. Second is female sterilization -- procedures like women getting their tubes tied -- which is a more common form of contraception than condoms. But urologists say that vasectomies are simpler, safer, faster, and less expensive.

Why don't men get vasectomies more often? The answer may have to do with our assumptions -- and our insecurities -- about gender roles. This is something Clint had to deal with long before going under the knife. He left the workforce about six years ago to raise his children, and that switch took some adjustment.

But all this change has paid off. When I spoke with him recently, he talked about getting used to the stay-at-home dad life, rethinking masculinity, and experiencing the sexual freedom that comes after two easy snips.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

Committing to the vasectomy was a little scary:

The two biggest things I was worried about [were] all the inspections that had to go on with my genitals in front of other people, and the second thing was actually having my genitals pierced by sharp objects.... It was probably about two years after we first brought it up before I actually got into gear and got the job done.

A new sexual life with his wife Tania:

She can just throw me onto a bench anytime she wants now and not have to worry about it. It’s good fun. If you take concern out of it, you can just go and do whatever role play you want right to the very end....Freedom.

Clint Greagen and his wife Tania (photo: Clint Greagen)

 Coming to terms with being a stay-at-home dad:

Being a man who was moving out of the workforce to become a fulltime [care-giver] in what has traditionally been a female role, I did start to notice things around me that sort of suggested I was doing the wrong thing. Little tongue-in-cheek jokes that people say, but that has that kernel of truth to it, or their kernel of truth to it.

You can read a full transcript of our interview.

And Clint Greagan blogs at reservoirdad.com. His first book, also called Reservoir Dad, was released in Australia in June 2014.

Here's a Safe For Work (sort of) video of Dr. Snip performing the vasectomy: