By Christiénne Miller
This post brings a more serious note to SweetTalk, with a call out for all women’s attention and feedback. I’m talking about the controversy surrounding the HPV vaccine, Gardasil. For some, getting this vaccine, or having their daughters vaccinated, seems like an obvious choice. In the case of a Mom, it may be based on a doctor’s advice, or her personal experience of medical complications, due to the HPV virus – which has been linked to genital warts and certain types of cervical and other cancers. For a young woman making the choice on her own, her decision may be based on information she has read. The Centers for Disease Control recommends it, so why is there still reluctance and resistance? What have you found out or what is your experience? With an important issue such as this, the conversation needs to get bigger – to get to the bottom of it all, and ensure that all young women and mothers have the information then need to make an educated choice that works for them. After all, there is the possibility that a law could replace this choice.
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3 Comments
There are a couple of reasons a lot of women aren’t hopping onto the Gardasil bandwagon and one of the biggest reasons is the glaringly obvious gender bias involved in the marketing of Gardasil.
Newsflash 1: HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. To get HPV-related cervical cancer, one must first be infected with the STD known as HPV.
Newflash 2: NOTHING can immunize against cancer as cancer is a malignant overgrowth/abnormal growth of cells. Cancer isn’t a virus. Gardasil vaccinates against _HPV_ NOT cancer.
In other words:
Did everyone forget that HPV is a sexually transmitted disease? Did everyone forget that in order to get HPV-related cancers, one has to have HPV in the first place?
Pretty much the ONLY way a woman can get HPV is to be sexually active with a PARTNER who has HPV.
So why just vaccinate the woman? Why not vaccinate the boys early against HPV so they can’t spread the disease, too?
Again, HPV is an STD! Gardasil is a vaccine against certain types of HPV! It is NOT - I repeat NOT - a vaccine against cancer.
Be nice if the guys could get in on this, too, instead of being conveniently left out of the loop.
Funny that, considering what percentage of women with these types of HPV got it from their male sexual partners.
Funny, too, that even though penile cancer form HPV is less common, HPV amongst men is still common, but men aren’t given any options to help protect themselves against it.
That just shows me what the makers of Gardasil were thinking.
Personally speaking, Gardasil isn’t an empowerment until it vaccinates both girls AND boys.
Because STDs like HPV are passed almost exclusively through PARTNERED sexual interactions.
*sighs*
EMG,
Thank you so much for your comments. This is the type of conversation that should keep going. In fact, I found this extra tidbit on the lobby to also vaccinate boys and young men: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/01/05/merck-seeks-fda-approval-for-gardasil-in-boys/
Hey there Christienne!
I like you definitely agree that this is a sort of conversation that needs to keep going and going until all sides of the subject at hand have been addressed.
After I wrote my post to you, I did some more research on the marketing of Gardasil and found articles and information similar to what you posted.
I am very gratified to see that there is a new push to market and offer Gardasil to the boys and men, too, but the fact that remains is this:
Merck could have taken a stance to actively and openly discuss STDs and the spreading of STDs, but chose not to/didn’t.
They could have talked about how both girls AND boys need to be in the know about HPV - the spreading of, what it can do to both guys and girls - and they could have talked about the potential benefits of Gardasil for both sexes - protecting them BOTH from the cancer-causing versions of HPV… but they didn’t.
The message that got sent was that boys either don’t need to be concerned about it or that HPV is a woman-only problem and it ISN’T.
HOW did the women catch it in the first place? Toilet seats?
By marketing Gardasil as a cervical cancer preventative vaccine, Merck intentionally focused the spotlight on women and HPV and completely left the boys out in the dark.
Boys and men were all but excluded in all the original talks and discussions and to me, that really reflected poorly on the company and on the company’s values.
Even worse, it isn’t just Merck who puts the focus on women in terms of sex and sexual issues and leaves the men out.
Society in general does it.
Merck just happened to follow in society’s footsteps.
… At least, that’s what it felt like/feels like.
Thanks so much for listening to my spiel; I didn’t quite mean to sound so confrontational and I hope that despite the emotion, my point of view came across cleanly and succinctly.
The issue is actually dear to me on a personal level as I had a grandmother who was victim to cervical cancer that was more than likely related to HPV as she was diagnosed post-mortem (she passed away from having a double stroke; the cervical cancer definitely did not help her in getting better/recovery) as having HPV.
The HPV could have only come from one person - my grandfather who was also diagnosed as having HPV, but diagnosed earlier than my grandmother - but because of the way my culture and the resulting society looks at STDs and sexuality, the news of my grandmother’s HPV and cervical cancer was covered up as if it was some dirty secret and as if it was her fault.
To a lot of people, this thing with Gardasil’s marketing scheme isn’t a big deal, but for me, I see the much bigger picture that this one incident represents.
To get people to truly be fully educated about sex, sexuality, STDs, and everything else, people have to first of all be HONEST and that includes honestly addressing the comings and goings of STDs without any smoke and mirrors.
Thanks again for listening and thanks even more for leaving my comments up for people to see.
~ EMG