Why Don't We Use Condoms for Oral Sex?
Only sexworkers seem to understand the risks
Highlights of long article
Jerome Groopman warned of a new antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea colonizing the throats of hosts from Japan to Sweden: “the harbinger of a sexually transmitted global epidemic.”
Michael Douglas told the Guardian that his throat cancer was “caused by something called HPV, which actually comes about from cunnilingus.” The dangers associated with the terrifying new strain of gonorrhea are greatest for those who give oral sex to men, but the risk of HPV-related oral cancers seems higher for those who go down on women. A 2012 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 10 percent of men and 3.6 percent of women have HPV in their throats.
Along with these sexually-transmitted infections, pretty much everything else is transmittable through oral sex: Standard-issue gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, hepatitis B, and chlamydia, the second easiest-to-catch STI in America after HPV.
Even the vast majority of 9th graders admit that while oral sex is safer it still includes some risk of contracting chlamydia and HIV. (Only 14 and 13 percent, respectively, thought that there was zero chance of infection.) But while we claim to know there is danger, we’ve shown our priorities with our genitalia: Everyone from U.S. teens (70 percent) to adults (82 percent) to British teens (80 percent) forgoes condoms every time they have oral sex.
The antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea is particularly prone to breeding in the throat, where symptoms are rarely noticeable, allowing it to be easily spread. Oral cancers associated with HPV are on the march, too. Although the disease is most commonly associated with infections of the cervix, the latest data reveals oral malignancies (37.3 percent) as the most common HPV-related cancer. In the male population, they account for 78.2 percent of HPV-related cancer.
SEX WORKERS ARE THE only people I’ve spoken with who have regularly used condoms while providing oral pleasure. In countries and states where sex work is legal, there are often laws requiring condom use. Nevada passed such a law in 1988 and a 1998 study in the American Journal of Public Health found no unprotected sex in the brothels under review and minimal pushback from the clientele. “However, perhaps even more critical [than the law] is the ability of sex workers to transform the condom into an acceptable part of sexual activity,” the researchers conclude.
Both sex workers and their clients presumably understand the risks of sex with multiple partners, which would explain why condom usage is more accepted in that setting.
“Back in the ‘70s, people never thought men would be willing to wear condoms for penile-vaginal or oral intercourse,” says Nack, who is also the author of Damaged Goods? Women Living With Incurable STDs. “Due to the effective campaigning, especially around HIV … we’ve really seen condom use rise for those types of sex. If people were really educated about what they were risking by having unprotected oral sex, I have faith in the public that enough of us would find value in protecting ourselves.
http://www.psmag.com/health/why-dont-we-wear-condoms-for-oral-sex-60632/
