I am Spartacus. Chances are, you are too.

[boppers]

I was inspired by this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x332910#334671

Some things you may not know about HPV:
1. There are over 200 types known. 30-40 cause visible wart symptoms. The rest, well, can cause "minor" things like.... cancer.
2. Hence, you can get cancer without ever having a wart. You can also *give* cancer without ever having a wart. Yes, this goes against standard thought, you can't really "catch" cancer the way you catch a cold, unless your preferred method of catching a cold is by having unprotected sex with somebody who shows no symptoms of a cold.
3. 70-80 percent of *everybody* in the US has it, had it, or will get it. Read that again. If you are a virgin, who married a virgin, and both of you never kissed, let alone had oral sex or intercourse with another person, you may be okay. Maybe.

Read up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus#United_States_of_America

Oh, and if you don't get the Subject reference, have some pop culture of the 1960's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8h_v_our_Q

[Tunkamerica]

1. this shit is so stupid.

everybody has some cancer cells in their body. to obsess to the point of never having sexual contact with another person is pointless and detrimental. what type of existence are you trying to protect if you're scared of intimate contact?

[boppers]

2. Vaccinate.

it's not about you, or me.

[tavalon]

4. Vaccinate and re-evaluate being fluid bonded

Unless one is with their only partner ever who has never had another partner, the chances of getting some strain of HPV is very, very high. I wrote in another post on this thread how I handle my situation.

[tavalon]

3. I'm using your post as a jumping off point

Everything Boppers said is correct and I was planning to post a similar thing so she saved me a bundle of time. Yes, everyone has some cancer cells in their body at most times in their lives and they are often fixed by the immune system. Certain strains of HPV are very virulent in the cancer vein. They strike after a long dormancy and they kill efficiently and gruesomely. Watch Farrah Fawcett's show where she gives us a front row seat watching her die from an HPV caused cancer.

We don't know nearly enough about the many strains of HPV yet but I've been following the HPV situation for a very long time because I used to be a safer sex educator and I'm a nurse and I am polyamorous. I have three partners. I know I have HPV (don't know which strain or strains), I know one of my partners has one of the forms of HPV known to cause cancer and his/our ex wife can attest to that as she had cervical dysplasia. I don't know if my other two partners have any forms of HPV nor do I know if any of their partners have HPV.

I have close relationships with my partners and they include varied forms of sexual contact. But I never, ever share body fluids. I use barriers for penetrative sex including oral sex. They use dental dams for oral sex with me. We use gloves for finger related penetrative sex. I personally use female condoms for all of my own uses, including for oral sex with my partners. I've been doing this for 15 years and after a while, it just stops being noticed. After all I know, I would never again share sexual fluids with anyone. I'm not trying to make a baby and that would be the only exception I would ever make.

The only impact it makes on my intimate life is making sure there are plenty of female condoms, male condoms, gloves, dental dams and lube in the house. Yeah, it's a cost, but cancer is a much bigger cost. I may still succumb to cancer because of HPV because I used to have plenty of unprotected sex when I was young and on the pill. And I've got HPV. Wait, I mentioned that, didn't I?

Don't be scared. Be educated.

[CLANG]

11. OMG!

"I have close relationships with my partners and they include varied forms of sexual contact. But I never, ever share body fluids. I use barriers for penetrative sex including oral sex. They use dental dams for oral sex with me. We use gloves for finger related penetrative sex. I personally use female condoms for all of my own uses, including for oral sex with my partners. I've been doing this for 15 years and after a while, it just stops being noticed. After all I know, I would never again share sexual fluids with anyone. I'm not trying to make a baby and that would be the only exception I would ever make."

Sounds like sex from hell to me.

[tavalon]

12. Cancer sounds like hell to me

My sex life is pretty fun. And varied.

[tavalon]

5. Thank you Boppers!

You saved me a huge amount of time. I was going to do just what you did.

[tavalon]

6. Kicked because I would like to see this on the Greatest Page

[xchrom]

7. recommend -- vaccinate.

we have an effective tool in our arsenal against hpv related illnesses.

[tavalon]

8. I've often been accused of being an antivaxxer,

which is a really effective way to shut down conversation on a topic that is complex, nuanced and very tough for some people, myself included. But I am hardly an antivaxxer. And in the case of the HPV vaccine, I think it is a vitally important vaccine. My child almost died because of a vaccine and will never live a normal life because of it so I have in the past and will be in the future sensitive when people say that a few must be sacrificed for the many, because mine is one who paid almost the ultimate price. In fact, in a way, he paid a bigger price than the children who die from vaccines and yes, children do die from some vaccines, blessedly rarely but it happens.

But I usually don't even try to bring up the complexity and convolution of vaccines and the unholy alliance between vaccine manufacturers and the CDC here because I know I won't be heard. In the case of the HPV vaccine though, I believe it is so vitally important that were my child to ever have the possibility of being sexually active (highly unlikely), I would get him that vaccine.

As far as the vaccine for HPV being the whole of the arsenal, it isn't. People are going to need to understand the necessity of implementing non-exchange of sexual fluids. It seems onerous and just too hypervigilant but I'm not sure it really is either. As someone who has practiced that level on non-exchange of sexual fluids without sacrificing much in the way of intimacy and a satisfying sex life, I do think we need to really start thinking about going back to the kind of things we practiced when HIV was deadly instead of expensively chronic. Some of the HPV strains may end of being sleeper cells of the worst kind.

[xchrom]

10. you don't need fluids to pass the hpv virus.

but what is rarely understood is what treating cancers that come from warts, etc is particularly awful.

not that all cancer treatments aren't -- but radiation or radium implants in and on certain parts of the body is pretty nasty.

[tavalon]

9. I'm heading to bed but one more kick for the morning crowd

This is really important stuff.

[boppers]

13. Thanks for the kicks.

If nothing else, maybe 5-10 more people will see, and pass, the knowledge along.