“You seem pretty scared of catching swine flu for someone who’s not remotely scared of catching STDs.” Oh, the genius of this someecard – especially for someone like me who Continue Reading →
STI/STD/HIV
Recent posts
Privates Game Allows Young Men To “Shoot Down Infections”
According to news reports, Channel 4 Education (in the UK) has commissioned the development of a PC download about sexual health. It’s slated to be called Privates and is described as a “spoof on the Space Marine genre… in which players enter a young men’s privates to shoot down infections.” Continue Reading →
My students’ videos about sex
Last semester, students in my human sexuality class had an assignment to create a public service announcement (PSA). The videos touched on a wide range of topics from college hook-ups to condom use to alcohol and sex to chlamydia and HIV. Though the the PSAs were shown exclusively in class, some of them also added theirs to the conversation on YouTube. Check out their brilliant (and sometimes touching, sometimes quite funny) work here:
and here
and here:
Thoughts? (P.S. F255-ers, if I’m missing any others on YouTube, let me know!) Continue Reading →
Questions about HPV, cervical cancer, HPV transmission and HPV tests
Question:
I was doing some reading on your site, regarding HPV. I was doing the reading, because, it has come to my attention, that my son had sex with a woman, who has told me she definately has HPV, and it is one of the ones, that can cause cervical cancer. Her pap test revealed this, and she is under a doctors care for the cervical cancer. My questions to you are: should I inform my son? SHould he be concerned that he has had sex with someone who definately has HPV, and she is also being treated for cervical cancer, that she got from HPV? Continue Reading →
The power of using the internet for sex education
This particular sex education PSA comes to us from Belgium. Check it out:
Continue Reading →
Update on Gardasil (HPV vaccine) being required of legal permanent resident girls and women
Last night I learned that the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, was now being required of girls and women in order for them to be legal permanent residents of the United States. At the time, it was unclear to me who (as in, what age) the vaccine was being required for – it turns out, according to government documents, that the vaccine is being required of girls and women ages 11 through 26. I cannot believe that they are mandating this for CHILDREN – this has been a huge controversy in the United States for girls who are citizens (parent groups, conservative organizations, religious groups and feminist groups protested when states tried to mandate the vaccine to young girls in the US) – but now people immigrating into the US are being required to get this vaccine? From what I am reading on health-related listservs today, several groups are planning to protest this requirement. Stay tuned. Continue Reading →
US Government requires that women get the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) in order to become legal permanent residents of the US
I find this hard to believe – that the US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) is now requiring women to get the three-dose (and roughly $160) Gardasil vaccine that protects against 4 strains of HPV before they can become legal permanent residents of the US. This is an expensive vaccine! It is also not recommended for all women. Are they requiring all women to get this? What ages? Continue Reading →
CDC: Black women and men – and white gay men – remain among the highest risk for HIV infection in the US
In a recent report, the CDC has emphasized something that has plagued many public health professionals since the HIV epidemic – the disproportionate distribution of HIV infection. As most know, in the beginning of the HIV epidemic, white gay men had disproportionately higher rates of infection. As the years have passed, the face has changed a bit, but not entirely. White gay men in their 30s and 40s are at particularly high risk for HIV infection, as are young black men and young black women. That doesn’t, of course, mean that other groups are not at risk – in fact, anyone could be at risk for infection depending on their sexual behavior or drug use behavior. Continue Reading →
Does sex change after someone is diagnosed with genital herpes?
According to this study, not so much – the researchers found that after being diagnosed with herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV2, which most commonly causes genital herpes rather than oral herpes/cold sores), people didn’t really change their sexual behaviors. Granted, one wouldn’t necessarily expect people to have sex less often, particularly with a steady relationship partner (though that’s one behavior the researchers looked at) and condom use didn’t seem to differ much either… then again, considering that condoms cannot completely prevent herpes transmission, that may influence people’s condom use decisions too. Here’s the abstract from this web site:
Do Protective Behaviors Follow the Experience of Testing Positive for Herpes Simplex Type 2? Note
Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Continue Reading →
Alaska’s sexual health
For the sake of context, it may be worth noting that Alaska historically is frequently ranked as one of the states (and sometimes THE state) with the highest rates of chlamydia infection and also typically has astronomical rates of sexual assault and rape. In addition, this state of 600,000+ tends to have substantial rates of health disparities, as do other states, that deserve attention and funding. Then again, it seems that Alaska does provide fairly good sexuality education in some places as well as access to family planning services, and they seem to have had a decline in teen pregnancies in recent years (source: Guttmacher Institute). Continue Reading →