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‘Roommate’s girl got an IUD, safe to say he’s pretty excited’: A man cheered for his girlfriend’s IUD, and now everyone is fighting about it

‘Is this a safe enough space to say I find this deeply off-putting on a gut level.’

Photo of Lindsey Weedston

Lindsey Weedston

Screenshot of a tweet from user @Richard_Vixen that reads 'Is this a safe enough space to say I find this deeply off-putting on a gut level' over a photo of a man jumping and clicking his heels.
@Richard_Vixen/Twitter; @Adam_Kessel1/Twitter

A user on X kicked off intense discourse after writing, “Roommates girl got an IUD, safe to say he’s pretty excited,” alongside a photo of a man clicking his heels in the air. It’s the kind of thing that reminds people how the most innocuous statement made by the smallest of accounts can, on the app formerly known as Twitter, utterly ruin someone’s notifications for days.

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In spite of the user’s low follower count, this simple post attracted discourse from all ends of the discourse spectrum, with both feminists and tradwives yelling at this guy for celebrating a form of birth control.

‘Roommates girl got an IUD, safe to say he’s pretty excited’

On Jan. 24, user @Adam_Kessel1 posted a photo of a young man on the sidewalk jumping up and clicking his heels together, hands in his pockets and backpack flopping against his spine. He included a text explanation reading “Roommates girl got an IUD, safe to say he’s pretty excited.”

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Tweet with a photo of a man jumping into the air and clicking his heels with text reading 'Roommates girl got an iud, safe to say he’s pretty excited.'
@Adam_Kessel1/X

An IUD, or Intrauterine Device, is a form of birth control inserted into the uterus to prevent sperm from reaching the incoming egg, stopping pregnancy before it happens. It achieves this with either copper material or the hormone progestin, which can also prevent ovulation.

In the five days since he tweeted, Kessel’s post has received over 40 million views and thousands of comments and quote tweets arguing about whether what he said was wrong and in what way. That’s pretty impressive for someone who has only 302 followers.

What’s wrong with being excited over an IUD?

A lot of women did not appreciate the fact that Kessel’s roommate was excited about his girl getting an IUD. The assumption made by most was that the roommate was giddy about the fact that this reliable and long-term form of birth control meant that they could copulate without using condoms and not have to worry about pregnancy.

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This upset some women because IUD insertion process can be quite painful for some. They accused the roommate of only caring about his ability to get off bare and not about the pain she may have experienced just so he wouldn’t have to wrap it. Perhaps, instead, a vasectomy.

Tweet reading 'Imagine someone celebrating his gf going through so much pain just so he doesn't have to wear a condom. At least vesectomies are reversible and less painful.'
@Hime_1990/X

“Imagine someone celebrating his gf going through so much pain just so he doesn’t have to wear a condom,” wrote @Hime_1990. “At least vesectomies [sic] are reversible and less painful.”

Others, like @Richard_Vixen, simply got the ick from Kessel’s post, even if they couldn’t explain exactly why.

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Quote tweet reading 'Is this a safe enough space to say I find this deeply off-putting on a gut level'
@Richard_Vixen/X

“Is this a safe enough space to say I find this deeply off-putting on a gut level,” she said.

Meanwhile, those who espouse more traditional values were equally outraged, but because they think that IUDs are terrible devices that mess with “natural” hormones and prevent babies. They really like babies, you know.

Tweet reading 'Nope. Unnatural. He doesn’t love her. Sad.'
@Richard_Vixen/X
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“Nope. Unnatural. He doesn’t love her,” declared @Orchidoptera. “Sad.”

The fight got so huge that it spread over to the r/AskFeminists forum on Reddit, where users mostly made fun of the people on X for being so weird.

‘People in this app are helpless’

After the first wave of outrage blew up Kessel’s post, it was viral enough to attract everyone who’s frustrated with how everyday remarks can set off the nastiest discourse on X. People accusing those they assume are feminists of being against birth control and others correcting the record on IUD issues now dominate the quote tweets.

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Tweet with screenshots of other tweets and text reading 'The people in this app are helpless. They can't see a couple being happy to have raw sex without projecting their misery disguised as socially conscious opinions.'
@aztronomo/X

“The people in this app are helpless,” said @aztronomo. “They can’t see a couple being happy to have raw sex without projecting their misery disguised as socially conscious opinions.”

Some who have received IUDs also chimed in to sing their praises against everyone claiming that they’re torture devices that cause infertility forever.

Quote tweet reading 'the insane discourse around this tweet is blowing my mind. getting my first IUD YEAAAARS ago was the best decision I have ever made. having unprotected sex without the fear of becoming pregnant is a beautiful fun thing!!!'
@notsasammich/X
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“the insane discourse around this tweet is blowing my mind. getting my first IUD YEAAAARS ago was the best decision I have ever made,” wrote @notsasammich, “having unprotected sex without the fear of becoming pregnant is a beautiful fun thing!!!”

By the middle of the following week, the IUD wars had raged hot enough to inspire jokes, hopefully signaling the end of this mess.

Tweet with a screenshot of a tweet reading 'You do start to appreciate why Lenin and Stalin just shot everybody.'
@abolishcxps/X
Tweet with an image of a tank driver pointing at the camera and text reading 'arrest these sex havers.'
@abolishcxps/X
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Tweet with a gif of a man walking hunched with head hanging and text reading 'Roommates girl got an iud, safe to say he's pretty sad that it might be a painful procedure with some associated risks.'
@discette4/X

Do IUDs cause pain, infertility, etc.?

It is true that IUD insertion typically involves pain comparable to period cramps. These are often most intense for a few minutes during the procedure itself, and some patients go on to experience cramping similar to a typical period for a week after it’s done.

However, according to University of Utah Health complex family planning specialist Jen Kaiser, MD, it’s rare for patients to require anything stronger than an over-the-counter painkiller to get through the insertion and the recovery period.

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“Even though the IUD insertion sounds really scary, most people do very well with a tailored pain management plan,” says Kaiser. “t can be very painful for some, but many of my patients tell me the discomfort was less than they were expecting.”

The impacts on fertility are also fully reversible. A 2021 study responding to old fears that IUDs cause long-term infertility found no association between past use of these devices and more difficulty conceiving after removal.

Other side effects from both the copper and hormonal IUD are possible, as with any form of medical birth control, but often lessen over time and can be stopped with removal of the device.

The Daily Dot has reached out to @Adam_Kessel1 for comment via X.

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