Sig Line !!!
Make it “might be” instead of “are” (since we don’t have anyone copping to it), and I’ll second it gladly.
Great. So, aside from homophobia, the only other answer would be ignorance and stupidity. Well them’s some mighty fine reasons for recklessly disregarding your own health. Thank you for playing, please drive through.
Malacandra, the assertions aren’t beyond criticism at all. I’m sure there’s a totally logical reason for a heterosexual man to say “Nobody’s sticking their finger up my ass, I don’t take it up the butt.” The Queensland Prostate Cancer support group does note:
That was only three hits in from a quick Google, there’s probably more.
Ignorance and stupidity are your words, and you’re welcome to them.
I think adults get to make their own decisions, and I don’t much care what their reasons are. If it’s my loved one, I try to talk them into it. If it’s not, I respect their autonomy. Freedom is about being able to make choices other people don’t agree with, right? Especially decisions that don’t affect strangers, or only affect them in that nebulous “cost to society” way.
But if it makes you feel good, blast away.
Has nothing to do with making me feel good. Has more to do with surprise that anyone would endanger themselves and frustration that they refuse to look at the very real long term risks they are imposing not only on themselves, but their families. It isn’t some nebulous “cost to society.” Medical bills become astronomical very quickly when dealing with a terminal disease. As opposed to a $15 copay for a quick office visit. Risking a terminal disease while still raising a child (or two) is just flat out irresponsible parenting. If it’s just about you, then carry on and kill yourself.
Who are we talking about, here?
If you’re talking about me, you couldn’t be farther off track.
And if you’re talking about men, most men aren’t going to die of prostate cancer, aren’t going to develop it while still raising children, and probably are pretty much adults.
Some people have a high tolerance for risk, especially when they don’t like the alternative. I’ve got no beef with that.
Which is guided by what? What’s behind the revulsion, horror, disbelief, and fear. Fear of what? And why is that fear greater than fear of cancer and dying? Horror of what and why is that horror greater than horror of long term debilitating disease and bankruptcy due to medical bills from treatment end stage failure?
What is the fear of? Why is it more scary than the consequences of not catching a disease early? What is going on in that person’s head - because I can’t picture it.
Nope, people in general.
So, let 'em risk it even if there’s family history, because chances are, their kids’ll grow up before they have to pay through the nose for dad’s medical debt? That’s sweet.
Yes, you’ve said. I do have a beef with stupidity and ignorance. Especially intentional stupidity. Probably a professional hazard, but I think it’s inherently moronic to risk a slow, wasting pain filled death because you “don’t like” the idea of someone sticking a latex covered finger in your butt for ten seconds. And equally ironic that these same people, as well as their families who support their “independent choices” to not go see doctors, expect miracle cures when they do develop a terminal disease. All because they had an aversion to being touched.
But, hey. I shouldn’t complain. After all, we’re doing a brisk business because people are in denial about the risks of diabetes and obesity. Still, much as it goes against what I’m trained to do, something about it sometimes makes me wonder if people would start taking better care of themselves if we said “You had the chance to get this detected and fixed early, but you didn’t? Go to the back of the line, motherfucker. It’s your own damn fault.”
There ya go. There has never been an occasion when having something stuck into me was even remotely pleasant. I don’t want to be invaded.
Most people don’t believe they are going to get sick. That’s the disbelief. Revulsion and horror, well, if you don’t understand that one, you simply don’t. No way to explain it. It’s like trying to explain why you don’t like a food. Fear of finding something wrong. Fear of not being in control. Fear of vulnerability. Mostly instinctive stuff, I think.
Some people, of course, can’t afford anything that isn’t an emergency. Some people simply don’t like or trust doctors. Some people certainly are simply ignorant. And there are people who know the risks and would rather chance it, just like I know the risks of driving but consider it worth it.
You don’t have a choice but to let them.
I just have to say it never ceases to amaze me what topics can set of a war of homophobia accusations and defenses. Spice of life I guess. I say we get a poll and gauge the reaction of male prostate exams.
Or maybe we shoud perform a poll on prostrate men.
Or maybe be safe and just take a poll.
Or get freaky and do a Pole.
I’m so confused with all this talk of digital exams. I guess I’m old-school and prefer the analog ones.
Oooh, look! A quarter!
Or maybe you could be buggered to open the link. But I guess if you don’t look at it, you don’t have to admit it exists. Since that’s been your modus operandi since I’ve been here, I can’t say I’m surprised.
You feeling a bit out of sorts, today, Maureen? This isn’t sarcasm or baiting - you really don’t seem like yourself here today.
Really? I hadn’t noticed, honestly. I spent a lot of yesterday in planes and airports, and I’m still dealing with a little jet lag, so it’s possible I’m a bit snippier than usual. Thanks for pointing it out, though, featherlou, I’d rather hear it than not. 
I should be a lot better after a decent night’s sleep.
You know, there is a variability of risk that somehow just disappeared before this entire discussion got started. Cancer is not a universally likely condition that will occur in everyone at some age. It has lots of situational, environmental, and hereditary elements.
Your risk of prostate cancer, assuming you are a male near sixty years of age, may not be the same as mine. The likely course that the disease will take over the rest of a statistically predictable lifetime is not necessarily identical, either.
Seventeen men over sixty who are my close blood relatives have had exactly zero incidences of cancer prior to autopsy reports in the last thirty years. The one where the autopsy report was the source of our knowledge of his prostate cancer died of pneumonia, at 80. (No doctor to issue a death certificate until a day after he died, so an autopsy was requires.) Others might have had it, as well, but we don’t do autopsies much, in our family. (We don’t go to doctors after we die either!)
I am almost sixty. I feel fine. Someday I will die, perhaps of something dreadful. I have to tell you now; I probably would not seek treatment if I had cancer, anyway. It’s a personal feeling. I don’t like hospitals, I don’t like drugs, and I don’t want to live a long time because of either one of those things. I don’t mind dying.
I quit smoking. I quit drinking coffee. (I miss the coffee, but not the cigs.) I am pretty much done giving up stuff. I have known folks who died of cancer, and who survived cancer, for a time. I know some who did each of those things with, and without treatment. My choice is to ignore cancer. It is not based on lack of knowledge. I assessed my risk, and the potential benefit, based on my real world observations. It’s called informed consent, and I choose not to give it.
I don’t advocate doing as I do. I am not against people seeking medical assistance, according to their own assessment of need. I think that is a good idea. And if irrational fear, or homophobia are the real reasons that I make this choice, I have that right, as well.
Tris
I’m flattered. Help yourself! 