With half-closed eyes, a man begins to sing while filming his vasectomy: On TikTok, more and more videos are fighting misinformation about this increasingly popular contraceptive procedure in the United States since the Supreme Court blasted the right to abortion.
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Myths about it have long flourished on the internet, with vasectomy even being associated with jokes about supposed emasculation.
TikTok videos that have gone viral now use humor to dismantle these urban legends, with some users even filming themselves in the middle of the operation in order to play down the drama, like stand-up comedian Jimmy McMurrin, who collected over 5 million views.
Among the most common mistakes is, for example, the idea that vasectomy would amount to being castrated, or that it would affect the libido or the production of hormones, explains influencer Keith Laue, who has shot several videos around his own surgical procedure.
“I am convinced that (these videos) help to combat the myths around vasectomies,” said the 23-year-old young man to AFP.
“I still have my testicles. Everything is normal.”
“We are closing the baby factory”
On TikTok, used to influencers with little or no qualification and relaying untruths, especially concerning vaccines and abortion, this trend is out of the ordinary.
“Many of the recent TikTok vasectomy videos indicate that the ruling on Roe v. Wade was decisive in the decision to use it and that the responsibility for contraception should not fall primarily on women, ”explains Katrine Wallace, of the University of Illinois Chicago.
The rate of vasectomy has indeed “increased considerably” across the country since the Supreme Court’s decision to blast the right to abortion, judge with AFP urologist Marc Goldstein, of the faculty of Medicine from Cornell University.
This observation, shared by several of his colleagues contacted by AFP, is reinforced by a spike in internet traffic to sites offering information on this subject.
On TikTok, users applaud in viral videos their husbands who have chosen to resort to this surgical procedure: “We are closing the baby factory!”
And some health experts offer educational videos that gain visibility by attacking several myths, including those claiming — incorrectly — that vasectomies cause impotence or increase the risk of prostate cancer.
“Inaccuracies”
The trend, which could benefit young people, very fond of this application of viral videos, however, involves risks.
“I worry because videos sometimes provide poor quality health information,” Jonas Swartz of Duke University Medical Center told AFP. “People should have access to accurate and factual information. TikTok is not designed to do this sorting.
Several videos on this topic, for example, have wrongly assured that the operation was completely reversible. Indeed, going back can be attempted, but the success of the operation depends on several factors such as the time elapsed since the vasectomy and the method used.
“While I’m glad people are fighting misinformation with their TikTok followers, I’m afraid it will add to the inaccuracies,” said Yotam Ophir, a communications professor at the University of Buffalo.
“TikTok users often confuse fame and follower count with expertise. Placing our hopes on TikTok mini-stars is like assuming they know how to identify reliable information and avoid misinformation — that seems unlikely.”