- Is it possible to get throat cancer from oral sex? Yes. Is it probable? Or even likely? No. Separate the hype from the facts, and ask why “the one sexual act that gives women pleasure and does not cause pregnancy is now being described as harmful to men”, especially when so little is known about oral sex and throat cancer.
- How can vinegar save lives? It’s reduced cervical cancer death rates by one-third in a study of 150,000 women in the slums of India. A simple test in which examiners swab the cervix with diluted vinegar, causing abnormal cells briefly to change color, could prevent 22,000 deaths in India and 72,600 worldwide each year, researchers estimate.
- Quelle surprise! A new study finds that “industry products (mostly drugs and devices)” now has undue influence throughout the processes of health care — research, strategy, expenditure, practice, and education. The researchers conclude, “As a result of these interferences, the benefits of drugs and other products are often exaggerated and their potential harms are downplayed, and clinical guidelines, medical practice, and healthcare expenditure decisions are biased”.
- The great moral panic of 1931: The invention of the (hymen-stealing) tampon.
- John Seager wonders out loud, What if beta blockers — a drug taken primarily by old men— were treated like birth control —a drug taken primarily by young women?
- Results of a study published recently in Ethology, the international journal of behavioural biology, suggests that women like to wear the color red “to attract potential mates in a similar way as non-human primates”. There was no association found between wearing red and phase of the menstrual cycle.
- In case you missed it: Friend of re:Cycling, filmmaker Therese Shechter was on Reddit.com for an “Ask Me Anything” session on Wednesday, June 12, to answer questions about her new film, How to Lose Your Virginity, virginity in general, and, well, anything. If you were unable to join the live conversation, you can read the transcript here.
- At The Conversation, SMCR Board member Jane Ussher asks, Who really pays for designer vaginas? (Hint: It’s not Medicare, even when it is.)
- You may or not may not have heard that 23 young women in Canada have died from using Yaz/Yasmin birth control as directed by the manufacturer, Bayer. “May not have heard” is perhaps an exaggeration, but as Holly Grigg-Spall has tirelessly pointed out on Facebook and Twitter this week, the usual feminist media outlets have been strangely silent about this. My own rough estimate is 52 U.S. women, 23 Canadian women, and four Finnish women are now deceased from using Yaz/Yasmin. And France was reporting 20 deaths per year. That’s considerably more women than were killed from Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) in 1980, albeit over a longer time period (TSS still kills women, by the way). But where is the feminist outrage?
The response in Canada to the Yaz/Yasmin story has been underwhelming to say the least. My sexual and reproductive health colleagues are behaving like apologists for Bayer and their problematic oral contraceptives. “Talk to your doctor before making any changes” is making the rounds on Twitter, with a link to a “calm down” message at sexualityandu, the website sponsored and managed by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada. https://www.sexualityandu.ca/news-and-events/worried-about-yaz-or-yasmin
What has not been offered is a clear offer of help to switch brands (one commenter on a Globe and Mail article said her daughter was counselled out of changing brands at one point when expressing concern about Yaz/Yasmin)
But what makes me the angriest is the lack of courage or sense of responsibility by non-profit community SRH organizations to ask hard questions about whether or not Yaz/Yasmin just may not be worth the risk considering the multiple other brands of OCs available.
Why not hold a public forum to discuss the concerns young women have about these drugs? The problems with Yaz/Yasmin go far beyond the reported deaths: blood clots, gall bladder disease, psychological distress among them. To just post information clearly intended to calm women’s fears and keep them on these drug in effect tells women their fears and concerns are groundless. This does not honour the commitment to feminist principles and self-determination that so many SRH organizations supposedly adhere to.
In light of the last point, what WOULD happen if birth control were treated like any other drug?