# We could eliminate cervical cancer, but then more people might screw! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 18, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837 "2005-04-18T02:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/61 "2005-04-19T00:28:14Z")
Come again, **Kearse**? I’m having trouble comprehending exactly what you’re trying to say, and I’m usually pretty good at these things. The vaccine in question protects people from getting the human papilloma virus, which is the major cause of cervical cancer - were it not for HPV, cervical cancer would be much, much rarer than it is. The vaccine wouldn’t need to be given before every sexual encounter - just once in a doctor’s office, or perhaps more years later as a booster shot. HPV is currently the most common STD in the US - over 50% of Americans get it at some point in their lives, though they may not know it. ([cite](http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm)) It doesn’t cause cancer most of the time, so most people don’t even think very much about it. For most people, vaccination before they become sexually active would prevent a minor infection. For some, it would prevent a really terrible, expensive illness, whose expenses are usually distributed to the rest of us via insurance premiums and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/62 "2005-04-19T00:31:16Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > But am I wrong? It seems to me that the more people are exposed to availability of tests etc the more they become obsessed with their health. I may be THE freak but the intensity of medical hysteria sometimes shown here is alien to me. > > Go to the doctor if you are sick. If you go to the doctor for millions of tests you will definitely end up sick. If I’d had that attitude, I might be missing a major organ right now, or possibly even dead. Yay for frequent screening and routine exams. Eva Luna, cervical cancer survivor, caught during routine Pap smear and likely contracted during 4.5-year relationship with lying, cheating asshole with whom I thought I was in a long-term monogamous relationship (or do you really expect people to remain virgins until their 30s?) (And if I can ever get a straight answer re: whether a vaccine will protect against any HPV strains I might not have contracted, believe me, I’m first in line as soon as it’s on the market. I can’t believe those fuckers would endanger their children, not to mention other people’s children or even fully competent adults, over some fucked-up moral sense. Do they think that everyone on the planet who ever loses his/her virginity is doing so only with another virgin? Idiots. Murderous idiots, even.) ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/63 "2005-04-19T00:43:10Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Cancer will only kill you. Premarital sex will damn your soul to eternal hell and suffering. As time on this Earth is fleeting, but you will spend an eternity in the afterlife, its important to protect people from themselves. > > Really, its internally consistant. Wacked, but consistant. Well, except perhaps for that whole “some of us haven’t accepted Jesus and so we are damned regardless” part. Huh. Well, who wants me to save them a seat in hell? I’ve got my place all picked out. I’m beginning to think I have this Christianity thing ass-backwards. I thought it was about believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior, compassion, and love for your fellow creatures. So only pure specimens of humanity are permitted? These people never heard of the concept of being human and making mistakes? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/64 "2005-04-19T01:48:06Z")
> [@](#): > > “Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV,” says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council … “Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex” And naming your daughter Bridget may be harmful, because she may feel the obligation to become a humorless, backward-facing cow with a collection of fist-tight orifices. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/65 "2005-04-19T02:03:32Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > . I thought it was about believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior, compassion, and love for your fellow creatures. :::Wipes tears of laughter from face::::: New to the planet? ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/66 "2005-04-19T02:12:14Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > :::Wipes tears of laughter from face::::: > New to the planet? Nah, I just thought we’d been taken over by hypocrite aliens. I still stand by that. After all, have you ever seen any of these people make a normal human-style statement? ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/67 "2005-04-19T02:45:08Z")
> [@Edward The Head](#): > > I like this idea. Just think of how much stronger our society would become if we locked up all the women just so they could excape. Only the strongest, smartest women would get out. Then think of the carnage of the smaller, weaker men trying to get at the women. We could have a race of super fuckers. Strong, smart women are a turn on. I like your thinking. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/68 "2005-04-19T13:53:44Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > I can’t let this go by without props. > > I’ll tell you what. That right there made me laugh until tears streamed down my cheeks. Of course, I read it in James Earl Jones’ voice and pictured the fucking while I read it. > > You can’t not stop and join me. That’s some funny shit. > 😃 Thanks, you need to imagin the music too. ---
**Author:** ![Kearse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearse)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/69 "2005-04-19T14:26:43Z")
The way the OP reads is that the vaccine would need to be given prior to the onset of sexual activity. Maybe I misinterpreted the way the vaccine would work. If it was an all or nothing thing, then I am wholly for it. If it is needed before every sexual encounter then I can see why some people are against it. The argument that most Conservative Christians would make has already been posted. Something along the lines of ’ taking away all viable “safe sex” methods to reduce the chances of early sexual activity’. I’m all for safe sex. but I’m also all for keeping “children” from screwing. I don’t think taking away all safe sex options is the key though. I think it should be a personal responsibility issue. If kids screw and get pregnant, they shouldn’t have the government there taking away their responsibility. Give them options (even abortion as long as they include the parents, if the children are minors), jobs, GED accreditation, college options etc… But for the love, make them personally responsible. This goes for just about everyone in our society. _better stay on topic though_ I could go for days preaching about how, we as a society, are devolving into one with less than perfect personal responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/70 "2005-04-19T14:39:43Z")
Jesus died for your sins, but its not a “sin for free” card. Few Christians I know believe you can be a Jesus loving Christian, understand you are being wrong, mass murder children, and be forgiven just for the asking. Sin (as I, a fully recovered Catholic, understand it) is like weight loss…sometimes the body is weak and eats a whole bag of Oreos. If you are truly contrite and work at it, your body will forgive you. But you don’t lose the weight simply by believing you will. Some Christians believe they will help you out by keeping the Oreos on the top shelf, or not even carrying them in the store, or informing you that Oreos aren’t good for you because you’ll gain weight (whether you care about your weight or not). ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/71 "2005-04-19T14:45:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Beyond the public health reasons, it’d be wonderful if the vaccine received wide acceptance, for I eventually wouldn’t have to look at so many #&^$! Pap slides. You’re bitching about the _slides_? Don’t expect much sympathy from us primary care docs who go in for those specimens. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Maybe I misinterpreted the way the vaccine would work. If it was an all or nothing thing, then I am wholly for it. If it is needed before every sexual encounter then I can see why some people are against it. It would be a vaccine just like the rest of the vaccines we give right now. I don’t know when they’d want to give it, other than before the onset of sexual activity. My fear is that the religious right nutjobs are going to join forces on this one with the anti-vaccine nutjobs (two of my least favorite varieties of nutjob), for an all-out assault on secularism and evidence-based medicine and community-based public health initiatives and safe sex and, well, pretty much everything else I believe in. > [@](#): > > I’ll tell you what. That right there made me laugh until tears streamed down my cheeks. Of course, I read it in James Earl Jones’ voice and pictured the fucking while I read it. Absolutely. That was priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/72 "2005-04-19T16:08:36Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > (as I, a fully recovered Catholic, understand it) You’re going to burn…I’ll save you a seat. > [@](#): > > sometimes the body is weak and eats a whole bag of Oreos. You say this like it is a bad thing. /got nuthin’ ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/73 "2005-04-19T16:30:57Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Jesus died for your sins, but its not a “sin for free” card. Few Christians I know believe you can be a Jesus loving Christian, understand you are being wrong, mass murder children, and be forgiven just for the asking. > > Sin (as I, a fully recovered Catholic, understand it) is like weight loss…sometimes the body is weak and eats a whole bag of Oreos. If you are truly contrite and work at it, your body will forgive you. But you don’t lose the weight simply by believing you will. Some Christians believe they will help you out by keeping the Oreos on the top shelf, or not even carrying them in the store, or informing you that Oreos aren’t good for you because you’ll gain weight (whether you care about your weight or not). What if you eat Oreos while mass murdering children? Gotta keep the energy level high for running the pagan abbetoir, or was that fact neglected in your tuteledge? ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/74 "2005-04-19T16:34:24Z")
I think objecting to it on religious/moral grounds is pretty fucking stupid. I’m with you there. However, let’s not overstate things. > [@Siege](#): > > . Either way, he’s carrying HPV and passes it on to her. So, despite living the kind of lifestyle the Religious Right would approve of, somehow _she’s_ the one who winds up with cancer and winds up paying for his sins with her health. HPV isn’t going to DEFENITELY give her cancer. It might. She’d have to have the right (wrong?) strain of it, and it would either have to be aggressive or she’d have to be skipping her regular exams. As I understand it, cervical cancer is very treatable if caught soon enough… and in fact it’s largely even _preventable_ because in many cases a pap smear will catch HPV-related problems before they turn cancerous. Furthermore, some women seem to be able to beat HPV without any treatment at all. Would it be good to eradicate HPV? Yes. Absolutely. But it’s not like HPV is a one-way guaranteed ticket to cervical cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/75 "2005-04-19T17:41:27Z")
> [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](#): > > Would it be good to eradicate HPV? Yes. Absolutely. But it’s not like HPV is a one-way guaranteed ticket to cervical cancer. Well, no, it’s not that if you have HPV, you WILL get cancer, but if you don’t have HPV, you almost certainly won’t get cervical cancer. Ergo, if HPV was wiped out, virtually nobody would be at risk for cervical cancer, regardless of level of promiscuity. Conversely, currently HPV is so widespread that any sexually active woman is at a risk for cervical cancer, regardless of level of promiscuity. ---
**Author:** ![Kearse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearse)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/76 "2005-04-19T17:43:52Z")
Reply not intended specifically for you Cranky. So now that the women get this vaccine, I take it there was nothing to be done except scraping the lining off the uterine walls (from the little research I did) before. What happens to the guy carrying this disease? Will the vaccine work for both? Lastly, what type of preventative measures can one take as a married monogomous man? ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/77 "2005-04-19T18:08:27Z")
> [@Kearse](#): > > Reply not intended specifically for you Cranky. > > I take it there was nothing to be done except scraping the lining off the uterine walls (from the little research I did) before. > > Lastly, what type of preventative measures can one take as a married monogomous man? Not intended for me, but I’ll take a stab at it. For dysplasia, (which are abnormal but precancerous cells) they can either wait and see what the body does, or remove that area of the cervix via freezing, cutting, or lasering. For cervical cancer, I believe they may do a more radical procedure like conization, which is removal of more of the cervix. I suppose they could take the whole cervix/uterus if they had to. Not sure how radiation and chemo figures in. I’ve never known anyone with serious cervical cancer, although I know a handful who have been treated for dysplasia (including myself). As for prevention for someoe like you, and whether these kinds of HPV threaten the manly parts, I dunno. Someone else will have to field that. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/78 "2005-04-19T18:18:39Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > You’re going to burn…I’ll save you a seat. nah, I’m so disorganized I misplaced my handbasket. But save me a seat in case they show up with a loaner, it will be a pleasure spending an eternity in torment with you. > [@](#): > > You say this like it is a bad thing. Well, IF you are trying to lose weight, a whole bag of Oreos is counter productive, unless you are partial to purging. But all that is your business. Personally, if I’m going to blow a diet, I’d rather do it on something more satisfying than Oreos. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/79 "2005-04-19T18:23:11Z")
I am not a doctor, but I DO have a guy friend who had HPV (among the other things he had were a pair of ex-girlfriends, one on an anti-HPV crusade because she had from sleeping like like 500 guys, and one who was abnormally susceptiblt to cervical cancer, hence, he knew WAY more than anyone should have to). Anyway. AS I UNDERSTAND IT, it’s hard to test for HPV on guys but it can be done. Many strains of HPV are entirely symptomless on guys. Those that are not generally manifest as genital warts of varying type. At least some strains of HPV, on guys, can appear to cure themselves entirely without intervention, although I’m not sure if this is proven or not. Best advice–talk to your primary care doc, and see what he says. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837/80 "2005-04-19T18:34:40Z")
Married monogamous men have very little to worry about regarding HPV if they are involved with a married monogamous woman\*, especially if the state of monogamy has been long-standing. I know of no clinical studies to support this statement, but I am confident that consumption of Oreos is not associated with the development of neoplasia. The double-stufs may be another matter, though. \*i.e. one’s wife, though this doesn’t _have_ to be the case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-could-eliminate-cervical-cancer-but-then-more-people-might-screw/299837.md?page=5)