Tag Archives: hpv

HPV Vaccine Doesn’t Make Teen Girls More Slutty, Survey Finds

Jessica WakemanDecember 27, 2011 //
"Are You Itchy?"
How to tell someone they need to get tested for STDs. Read More »
HPV Facts
Five important things to know about HPV. Read More »
Catfight
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Should you get the HPV vaccine? The Frisky is divided. Read More »
Today's Lady News
Today's Lady News
On boys and the HPV vaccine. Read More »
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Teen girls ages 15 to 19 who are vaccinated against HPV are not more likely to be sexually active, according to a survey in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Another positive finding is that sexually active girls who were vaccinated against HPV were also more likely to consistently use a condom than sexually active girls who were not. This data is directly counter to overreactive screeches from conservatives who claim that vaccinating teen girls will encourage them to have sex earlier. Hopefully this will shut them up for awhile (although I’m sure Rep. Michele Bachmann is eagerly awaiting a study to prove the HPV vaccine made a woman’s child mentally retarded as proof she’s not talking total BS). One might infer from this data that teenagers who have been exposed to the idea of protecting themselves against STDs — and, for younger teens, presumably have a parent or guardian’s support in keeping them protected —  continue to make responsible sexual decisions. Who’d have thunk? [New York Times] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: On Boys & The HPV Vaccine

Jessica WakemanNovember 7, 2011 //
Today's Lady News
  • Mandating the HPV vaccine for young boys (instead of young girls) may be an easier pill for parents to swallow because it is supposedly easier for them to think about their sons being sexually active than their daughters. Facepalm. [NPR]
  • How the worldwide SlutWalk protests have developed a divide between black women and white women. [The Root]
  • The superintendent of the San Diego school system where a lesbian couple were crowned Homecoming king and queen said that random phone callers telephoning the school to complain can STFU. [GOOD]
  • A terrorism-tracking database maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center only brings up one incident of abortion-related domestic terrorism (the 2009 murder of Dr. George Tiller) despite countless other threats and attacks on abortion clinics and abortion providers throughout the U.S. [Huffington Post] Keep reading »

SNL Debuts The Li’l Poundcake HPV Vaccine Doll

Jessica WakemanOctober 3, 2011 //
lil poundcake photo
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There was a lot to love when Melissa McCarthy hosted “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. But my fave was a sketch she wasn’t even in: the Li’l Poundcake HPV Vaccine Doll. It might beat Kristen Schaal’s bit on “The Daily Show” for best comedic send-up about the HPV vaccine panic. [Hulu]

Today’s Lady News: “The Daily Show” Schools Michele Bachmann On The HPV Vaccine

Jessica WakemanSeptember 16, 2011 //

  • Kristen Schaal was on “The Daily Show” last night as Senior Women’s Issues Correspondent addressing Rep. Michele Bachmann’s latest WTF claim that she met a woman whose child became mentally retarded from the HPV vaccine. Which, as you may have heard, the medical community says is total BS. Wear headphones and there’s imagery that’s NSFW at the end, so make sure your boss isn’t a-lurkin’! [The Daily Show]
  • Virginia may lose all 22 clinics that provide abortion. What does that mean? People who can afford to will travel up to places like New York where abortion is much more accessible. And everyone who can’t afford it? If you have an unintended pregnancy, then it sucks to be you. [New York Times]
  • Journalist Lea Goldman at Marie Claire examines the “pinkification” of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), when tons of products become pink and we’re told a portion goes to breast cancer research. But how much money do researchers actually receive — and how much of this is just opportunistic hucksterism? [Marie Claire]

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Today’s Lady News: Rick Perry Flip-Flops On HPV Vaccines For Girls

Jessica WakemanAugust 15, 2011 //
  • In 2007, Governor Rick Perry of Texas signed an executive order requiring that all girls receive the HPV vaccine in sixth grade, unless parents decided to opt-out. It was seen as a controversial decision at the time because HPV is a sexually transmitted disease and the vaccine acknowledged that adolescent girls are sexually active. However, some strains of HPV can cause cervical cancer, so many saw Perry’s decree as a net positive. Over the past several years, Perry has publicly stated he is proud of the decision and “I did what was right from my perspective.” This weekend, however, Perry changed his tune about the HPV vaccine for girls. Could it be because he accounced his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination this weekend as well? Nahhh, that couldn’t be it. [NYMag.com]
  • A New Jersey bill ensuring rape victims do not have to pay for their own rape kits (a collection of DNA taken from a victim which can be used by police to identify the rapist) is still awaiting signature by Governor Chris Christie. [Think Progress]
  • Here’s a quick, handy-dandy chart explaining where all the 2012 presidential candidates stand on basic rights for lesbians and gays. [MarriageEquality.org]

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Catfight: Should You Get The HPV Vaccine?

Jessica WakemanNovember 15, 2010 //

Girl Talk: I’ve Got An STD

AnonymousAugust 25, 2010 //

There are few moments in life more heart-stopping than realizing that there is something not right in your panties. A close second are the frantic Google searches you conduct with one shaking hand while aiming a mirror at your crotch with the other.

I was on the toilet when I first felt the strange patches of raised skin. Because they weren’t painful, the alarm took a moment to register. But when I got a closer look at the disturbance — bumpy white growths around the opening of my vagina — I immediately began to cry.

They’re called genital warts because that’s what they look like. I held out hope that I had some kind of simple, unshameful infection that could be cleared up with antibiotics until my gynecologist uttered the phrase. If I hadn’t already felt like retching, that truly disgusting combination of words probably would have done it. Keep reading »

Dear Wendy Updates: “You’re A Know-It-All”

Wendy AtterberryJune 17, 2010 //

Yesterday, I posted an open call for emails from people I’ve given (published) advice to here in the past to let me know whether they followed my advice and/or the advice from commenters, and how they’re doing today. I expected I might hear from people who didn’t like what I had to say, as well as from those who did. I’ve gotten a lot of grief for some of the advice I’ve given, and occasionally — not very often, but sometimes — I’ll have second thoughts about something I’ve said … or the way I’ve said it. Never has this been more the case than with the person you’ll hear from after the jump. She hated my “advice,” and rightfully so. We had some back-and-forth email exchanges afterward in which I said some more things I now regret. I ended up apologizing, but judging from the email she sent yesterday, she’s still pissed. Anyway, it was a learning lesson for me and for that I thank her. I’ve tried to be less presumptuous while still telling it like I see it and doling out “tough love” when it seems necessary, but sometimes I make mistakes. I’m human; it happens. After the jump, check out one of my biggest missteps. Keep reading »

Gardasil’s Scare Tactic Ads Do More Harm Than Good, One Woman Says

Susannah BreslinMay 12, 2010 //

Lux Alptraum has written an intriguing piece for Jezebel, “The HPV Vaccine’s Misguided Scare Tactics.” Alptraum argues that Merck, which manufactures Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, uses scare tactics in its commercials to push women to get the HPV vaccine, thereby driving more money into Merck’s deep pockets. One commercial features an animated woman going to the gynecologist for her annual pap smear and finding out she has full-blown cervical cancer. The music is grim. The tone is doomed. An alarmist vibe permeates the tale. In fact, Alptraum says, women who get annual pap smears are highly unlikely to develop cervical cancer, if HPV is caught early. In addition, the woman in the ad is white, while the fastest growing group of women getting diagnosed with cervical cancer is Hispanic women. Alptraum isn’t against Gardasil; she got it. But we agree that terrifying women is no way to get them to pursue good gynecological health practices. Watch the ad, read the story, and decide for yourself. [Jezebel] Keep reading »

Dear Wendy: “Should I Tell My Boyfriend I Lied About My Sexual History?”

Wendy AtterberryMarch 25, 2010 //

Two years ago when my boyfriend and I were having a conversation about when we lost our virginity, I lied and told him I was 22 and had slept with three people before him. The truth is that I’d just lost my virginity a few months earlier when I was 25 and hadn’t slept with anyone else until my boyfriend. I [was] just embarrassed to tell the truth and, at the time, didn’t foresee this relationship lasting very long or think the lie was going to matter. Fast forward two years, and I love this guy and now we live together. Under normal circumstances I would just come clean, and I wouldn’t fear his reaction. I know he would just laugh at me for being embarrassed and lying about something so silly. But there is another complication. Last year I was diagnosed with cervical cancer, caused by HPV. I did some treatments, and now I have recovered. My boyfriend was amazingly supportive throughout that whole difficult time, but he assumes I got the HPV before him and had it for a few years before developing cancer. He doesn’t know that I’ve only slept with one other person and it was protected sex and only two times! The odds are I got this from my boyfriend, who has slept with so many women that he can’t even count them. I’d like to get this off my chest, but I keep stopping myself. I don’t want him to think that I am telling him this just to make him feel guilty. I don’t blame him in any way. He had no idea he had HPV and it is just bad luck that this happened. Medically speaking, there is no reason to tell him since he already knows he has HPV. He just thinks he got it from me and not the other way around. So, should I tell him or is there no point now? — Recovered

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