As a nation, we can let out a well-repressed sigh of relief. There is a country even more prudish about things "down below" than us. John Key, New Zealand's prime minister, has reportedly "silenced a room full of press" by informing them that he'd had – brace yourselves – a vasectomy.

Proceedings ground to a clanging halt as the press mentally processed this horrifying image of the leader of a powerful nation (well, New Zealand) willingly submitting to "the snip".

"Boy, that's slowed things down. Any other questions?" asked the PM, eager to get back to the subject of the press conference: funding for early childhood education centres (he had been asked if his views would change if he were to have another child). But clearly that wasn't going to work – after a pause, the next question was, inevitably: "Did it hurt?" "Not overly," was the measured response.

As someone who has had the op recently, I would agree. Yes, it did hurt a bit, but not much. Let's just say I wasn't up to cycling for at least two months.

Even so, I find it startling there can still be awkwardness over a procedure that, according to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), more than 65,000 men in the UK undergo every year. The procedure is "rather more common than people imagine", notes BPAS chief executive Ann Furedi.

And what does she make of the NZ furore? "Clearly, it's uncommon for politicians to be voluntarily disclosing their birth control methods in public. Hopefully, this might encourage a bit more openness all round."

Furedi adds that modern techniques mean doctors are "keen to minimise the impact as much as they can". As for the snip affecting your sex life, she says there is often confusion between vasectomy and full castration. The former she likens to "having your finger nails painted", the latter to "having your hand cut off". Ouch.