Male Fertility-Related mHealth: Does It Create New Vulnerabilities?

Abstract

Male fertility–related mHealth (MFmHealth), including smartphone applications that allow men to test their fertility at home, is getting some attention now and then. In this commentary, I argue that MFmHealth technology has the potential to undermine established norms around male reproduction but cannot be examined using traditional individualist frameworks in bioethics. Instead, theoretical literature on the concept of vulnerability in feminist bioethics allow a theoretical alliance with critical studies of men and masculinities. Proposed benefits like empowerment, shared responsibility, and democratization may justify disruptive innovation but may also obscure more fundamental ethical concerns about vulnerability and social justice.