In recent decades the push for viable birth control measures has lead to several choices for women. From the patch, to the female condom, to the pill it seems like women are encouraged to take more responsibility in providing birth control. Men are given fewer options (i.e. the tried and true condom or a vasectomy) to protect themselves and their partners from unplanned pregnancies.
A recent study of male infertility out of Iran might provide a 'male pill'. With out getting too scientific the pill would theoretically block CATSPER1 function. CATSPER1 is a gene that gives sperm the energy and speed to fertilize an egg.
There is still much work to be done before a 'male pill' would become available commercially, but it's great to see new development!
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The big question about this is, once it is developed, how to actually get men to use it. I've had a fair amount of trouble convincing men to even use condoms, because contraception is a "woman's problem". I heard of a study in my Methodologies in Women's Studies class this semester that indicated that the majority of women surveyed would not trust a man to actually take a conception control pill everyday. Also, I see a danger in this because it does not protect from STIs and could go the same way as the female conception control pill, and could be seen as a replacement for condoms rather than a back-up . I know we're not supposed to apologize anymore, but let me know if i'm not making sense, I haven't slept much lately.
I think RISUG (there is an entry in Wikipedia about it) is much more promising male birth control. The huge benefit of it is that it allegedly works for 10 years once injected. That would give families yet another birt control options and give men full control over their reproduction. I even imagine voluntary RISUG injections for young males the same way young females are vaccinated with Gardasil.
As cool as it would be, I'm not enthusiastic about the prospects. Male hormonal contraception has been under a fair amount of research for as long as the Pill's been on the market, and every few years there seems to be a lot of excitement around something new and promising that turns out not to work. Spermatogenesis is just so much more complicated than oogenesis - and for a male contraceptive to work, it would have to block the production of more sperm per ejaculation than the number of ova the most fecund of women can release in an entire lifetime. I've looked int the RISUG research as well, but I can't find any recent positive developments being discussed by anyone who doesn't have a vested financial interest in the company behind it.