A good response to more idiocy about HPV

[kitchen_kink]

lightcastle pointed to this Slate article recently, titled "Does the HPV Vaccine "promote" promiscuity?" The title is typically sensational, but the article itself is quite good. Still, it angers me that such an article should even have to be written.

If you can, ladies, go get vaccinated!

Comments

[catya.livejournal.com]

grumble grumble stupid age limits grumble grumble

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you.

It is crazy talk that a doctors visit will give a young girl a feeling that she should run out and go start having sex. Much of the "traditional American" thinking is very sad.

[roy-batty.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I got the HPV Vaccine, and I *have* been more sexually active since . . .

. . . something tells me it's not directly causal, though.

[dietrich.livejournal.com]

Heh. I think you got the HPV vaccine because you knew you were about to become more sexually active. Which is, ya know, different.

Also because you're lucky. What a doc you must have.

[entrope.livejournal.com]

I had a discussion about the HPV vaccine with my uncle's girlfriend and a non-vaxing friend of hers. They were frothing at the mouth at the paternalism of mandatory vaccinations and the certainty they felt that vaccines cause or lead to autism. They were having a grand time postulating about what kind of sheeplike assholes would allow their precious daughters to receive this pharmaceutical-company-enriching poison. Probably Bush-supporters who drive SUVs in Manhattan, they decided.

When they paused to take a breath, I mentioned that s. had been vaccinated at my strongly-worded request and they asked why. I said, "well, because I have HPV and it has not been an easy road. It pains me to turn down an opportunity to prevent that with my own child."

They took me to task for "childishly believing" that my experience with HPV was at all related to an "untested vaccine that causes more harm than good."

At least they didn't tell me it would make her promiscuous.

[dietrich.livejournal.com]

Oy yoy yoy, spare me.

Woman, I'm sorry to say this, but I sometimes think you're a crazy magnet!

Good for you for vaccinating.

Oy vey

[roy-batty.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I've encountered this in regard to oh so many and widespread childhood vaccinations. It's by no means limited to HPV, and it's an attitude that pops up in some otherwise very thoughtful people. "Pharma companies are scum!I heard about these negative side-effects! The state is trying to control us!" . . .what-evrrrr.

Now, I'm pretty much a left-leaning alternative freak, bt I've got to say that most often the attitude you describe comes from people who have fallen comfortably into an alternative identity that automatically identifies them, and who have turned off a lot of critical thinking skills.

*Yes, the government weilds perhaps too much influence, and eternally tries for more, but sometimes they _do_ mandate things for the overall collective good (when the wishes of a fringe could pose an infectious general threat).
*Yes, there are sometimes side-effects, sometimes these are horrid, but . . . it's not a plot. Play the odds and you're much more likely to benefit from the average vaccination than not. On a society-wide scale, they're usually a no-brianer.
*Yes, pharmaceutical companies overcharge and over-hype their products, and sometimes downplay serious side-effects. However, they are businesses in the business of doing business. Though we could hope for better ethics, and should work toward mandating and enforcing those where we can, they're doing what is in their nature as businesses. Without these scumbags, we wouldn't have a pharmacopia of life preserving and enhancing drugs that really _do_ make a huge beneficial difference for an immense number of people.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Wow, that makes as much sense as prohibiting the use of seat belts on the grounds that people will drive more carefully without them.

The mind, she boggles.

[lobolance.livejournal.com]

according to Dan Savage, young guys should get vaccinated too! though the medical testing hasn't been officially done yet. HPV also causes warts around the anus, which also leads to cancer. Interesting how that hasn't been discussed at all.

[poly-fi.livejournal.com]

I like the point that the article makes about Hep. B. D'oh!

[poly-fi.livejournal.com]

So inspired by your PSA, I called my doctor about getting the immunization. Since I'm *so* old, I'll need to be tested first and pay for it myself, but I figured that it's likely worth it. Thanks!

[perseph12.livejournal.com]

When I told my primary care physician that I had received the vaccine, he asked, "And did you find it made you more promiscuous?" The look of horror on my face must have been incredible because he immediately assured me that he was making a funny ;). Even a sexually liberated woman can be that dense!

My gyno did not present the vaccine as an option. I receive my third shot next week, and I am thankful for her being so pushy!

Keep on spreading the gospel.