Another Excuse for Non-Reciprocal Oral?

Posted on March 30, 2008 by Bridget Crawford

According to this Time article, oral sex can add to HPV-associated cancer risk in men.

Oral sex can get most men’s attention. The topic becomes considerably more relevant, however, when coupled with a new study linking the human papillomavirus (HPV) to an increased risk of a kind of oral cancer more often seen in men.

The study, which appears in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), shows that men and women who reported having six or more oral-sex partners during their lifetime had a nearly ninefold increased risk of developing cancer of the tonsils or at the base of the tongue. Of the 300 study participants, those infected with HPV were also 32 times more likely to develop this type of oral cancer than those who did not have the virus. These findings dwarf the increased risk of developing this so-called oropharyngeal cancer associated with the two major risk factors: smoking (3 times greater) or drinking (2.5 times greater). HPV infection drives cancerous growth, as it is widely understood to do in the cervix. But unlike cervical cancer, this type of oral cancer is more prevalent in men.

I can hear the excuses already.

-Bridget Crawford

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0 Responses to Another Excuse for Non-Reciprocal Oral?

  1. kingcast says:
    March 31, 2008 at 2:55 am

    Oh, please. Exactly all of my friends love going down. You will have some folks, women and men who offer up lame excuses for not giving head. Your comment is a tad flippant for what appears to be a serious issue. It’s not going to stop me but I wish I did not know this, ignorance is bliss I guess???

    [Links and content redacted for lack of relevancy]

    Anyway, yah, I studied Feminist Jurisprudence in Law school do I guess comments like that get my dander up :)

  2. Samquilla says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:03 am

    I am confused by the “unlike cervical cancer” comment in the article quoted. Correct me if I’m wrong, but men don’t have a cervix. So no men get cervical cancer. So there’s not really any point in making a comparison…

  3. Ann Bartow says:
    March 31, 2008 at 9:07 am

    Kingcast – links in comments are okay if they relate to the continguous post, but not otherwise, sorry. Also redacted the allegations you made by name, again for lack of relevancy but also because this just isn’t that kind of forum.

  4. Pingback: Noli Irritare Leones » Blog Archive » Oral sex risks, and other links I may or may not want to comment on

  5. kingcast says:
    March 31, 2008 at 11:55 am

    Dear Ann:

    No worries. I dig your this blog.

    Peace.