You probably heard. So-called "reproductive rights" were one of the key issues of the Convention, which also had a giant inflatable IUD stationed close to the entrance, just in case attendees were in any doubt.

Planned Parenthood took an RV to the Convention and set up a mobile clinic in a parking lot nearby. On Monday, the first day of proceedings, it offered free vasectomies, and then abortions the next day.

Luis Ayala was one of ten men who had himself sterilized that Monday. "Ayala is 28 and works as an electrician," NPR explained. "His wife saw a social media post about a free reproductive health clinic Planned Parenthood was sponsoring in Chicago during the Democratic convention and suggested that he sign up."

I know we—and by "we," I mean "I"—like to say the leftist vision of politics is one of emasculation, but really, it's a bit on the nose, isn't it? Vasectomies at the Democratic National Convention—really!?

There were signs, of course. You may remember how, in the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs decision, which repealed Roe v. Wade, there was a significant uptick in sterilizations among both sexes. Although the increase in the number of female procedures was almost double the increase in male procedures, the increase among men was still huge and can only be explained as a response to the Supreme Court's decision. Why? Women may have had some reason to fear losing access to their treasured reproductive rights, sure, but men's rights weren't affected at all. Simply put, a significant proportion of the vasectomies that took place directly after the Dobbs decision were male-feminist gestures of solidarity. How do I know this? The Guardian told me so.

"In the current climate," John Semley writes, "a vasectomy almost seems like a political gesture. It's a way for men to take a more active stake in big decisions about contraception and reproduction that typically fall to women."