Men shouldn’t have to worry about HPV – the virus that causes cervical cancer in women and, according to sappho-journo, Kelly Jean Cogswell, neither should she.
In a Gay City News piece entitled, “What’s Really Killing Dykes”, Cogswell takes a stab at the medical profession’s obsession with pap smears and breast exams. Sure, some of you men may not really care about lesbian health, but even the biggest lesbian hater can’t resist such wonderful prose as this:
If health providers want to be useful to the dyke community, they’ll dump their tits-and-twat health care model, and focus on what really kills us. Like coronaries. And smoking… I know it’s 2007, and we’re supposed to pretend we’re all liberated and bendy, and okay with strangers having their hands up our twats, but I’d rather let Torquemada loose on my toenails.
Cogswell goes on to say that doctors and the media make HPV out to be the baddest of the baddies, but there are plenty of other malevolent maladies:
Check out the women’s mortality charts listed on the Mayo Clinic Web site, and you’ll find cervical cancer isn’t even mentioned.
Heart attacks kill 489,000 women in the U.S. each year. Cancers are all lumped together at the deadly number two spot with lung cancer alone knocking off 73,000 women.
Breast cancer gets a mere 40,000. It’s colorectal third at 28,000, and cervical isn’t even on the list. You’ll die of kidney cancer first, and who ever checks for that?
We certainly don’t, but we’ll be sure to keep our peepers peeled.
How about we take this to the next level?
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If you’re into Kelly’s brand of journalism, head on over to her blog. It’s totally lesbianic and totally boffo.
RJ
No, Worried Doc, what Cogswell was talking about was that women are constantly told to get Pap Smears. The second question women are asked (after when their last period started) is when they last got a pap smear. Even though women are much, much more likely to be killed by heart attacks, lung cancer, and strokes, doctors fixate on breasts and cervixes. Maybe, with a vaccine, doctors will realize that there are more to women’s health than just reproductive organs.
nystudman
Thanks, Queerty, for pointing up this column in GCN – although probably for opposite reasons you cited. I was shocked by how uninformed and narrow-minded she was. I mean, she’s basically saying “I’m a dyke. I don’t care about this disease that is devastating the female population. I only care about a narrow base of diseases that (and this is highly arguable) might affect me as a dyke.”
Really stupid and self-defeating.
cytotech
what a moron!!!
the reason that the rate of cervical cancer is so low is that it is possible to find precancerous lesions before they turn into full blown cancer! when a pap test is performed, precancerous cells are sampled and can be seen on the slide by someone who is looking for them and knows what to look for. the proper course of action can then be taken to PREVENT the cancer from developing!!!
cervical cancer used to be the LEADING cause of death among women up until the pap test came into widespread use!
Cat
Given that my mother died of cervical cancer, I think it’s misguided at best to encourage women to avoid pelvic exams.
Aaaand, that’s pretty much all I find myself capable of typing without going into an extreme rant. I doubt the author has spent a year in an oncology ward with someone dying of a preventable disease.