Personas: Exploring Life Stage

​As sperm producers grow older and progress through their reproductive journey, it becomes imperative to consider how their reproductive health needs change with age. Personas are fictional characters that are useful for understanding the thoughts, interests, and needs of a specific target audience. MCI is using personas to contextualize the lived experiences of potential users, beneficiaries, and intermediaries with regard to male contraception. In doing so, we hope to gain a greater understanding of how novel male contraceptive products can serve the evolving needs of sperm producers.

Once a potential male contraceptive user matures past the “Learning” life stage, they enter a new life stage which involves engaging with sex and sexuality in order to develop an intimate knowledge of interests and perceptions. The ”Exploring” life stage describes a phase of the reproductive journey where men are getting to know their sexuality and are experimenting with sex irrespective of relationship status and without a focus on conceiving a child. This life stage is instrumental in shaping one’s feelings towards relationships and long-term family planning objectives.

Male contraceptive users in the “Exploring” stage are motivated to prevent an unintended pregnancy at any costs. Personas like “Pragmatic Maverick”, “Scared Straight Stevie” and “Timmy Tinder” are examples of young sperm producers who are driven to mitigate the risks associated with sexual encounters. Each of these personas have different aspirations in their current life stage such as furthering their education, advancing their career, or simply having fulfilling youthful experiences. However, each of these personas are facing the unfortunate reality of having limited contraceptive options. Understanding the lived experiences of potential male contraceptive users is important for ensuring that novel male contraceptive products will serve these users when they become available.

Beneficiary personas in the Exploring stage are characters or individuals that will benefit from the next generation of male contraceptives without having to take or use the products themselves. “Go with the flow Gertie”, “Natural Norah”, and “Polyamorous Pollyanna” are personas that understand the importance of preventing pregnancy, but each have different values and contraceptive preferences. While “Go with the flow Gertie” values not being forced to choose a specific contraceptive method, “Natural Norah” values natural and holistic approaches to family planning. “Polyamorous Pollyanna” prioritizes having a variety of options to meet her needs. If their partners had access to novel male contraceptive products, then each of these personas would be able to have sexual encounters without having to compromise what matters to them individually.

Intermediary personas in the Exploring stage are individuals that will not take or directly benefit from using the next generation of male contraceptive products, but still have a vested interest in ensuring that new methods hit the market. Imagine a close family member that is concerned about her loved ones experiencing an unintended pregnancy and wants to protect the younger men in her family. A similar example of someone who has a vested interest in having the next generation of male contraceptives hit the market could be a drug developer who sees the lack of contraceptive options for men as a scientific puzzle that needs to be solved. What about an employee of a pharmaceutical company that recognizes the market for novel male contraception as a lucrative opportunity that has yet to be taken advantage of? “Auntie Aditi”, “Drug Developer Darryl”, “Pharma Francie” are exploring stage intermediary personas that have a personal stake in the development of new contraceptive methods for men, even if they aren’t using these new methods directly.

Personas are useful tools for understanding the thoughts, needs, and motivations of potential male contraceptive users and nonusers alike. Every person can be connected to male contraception in some shape or form and personas are illustrative devices that create concrete examples of individuals that would be affected by their development. Male Contraceptive Initiative has used personas to create various games, activities, and workshop agendas.

Check out the persona games and activities by clicking the button below:

mci's persona games & activities