Ladies of the fourm...If you've never had sex with a man...

[PoliteSuccubus]

You don't need a pap smear.

I learned this interesting fact today at the GYN office.

It seems the cells that cause cervical cancer are introduced to the woman's body via sexual intercourse with men. So my daughter didn't need one today.

And I wondered....how many lesbians have said "Yes, I'm sexually active" and gone through this procedure unnecessarily?

Talk it over with your GYN and see if you need to ever get a pap smear again!

 

[SweetCherry]

Really? I was always led to believe that you should get one by 18 if you've had sex or not.

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Talk it over with your GYN, but that was what my daughter's told us. Since she and her husband are tops in their feilds and write and present papers and such I see no reason to doubt her.

 

[Madame Manga]

I just googled "pap smear lesbians", and found many articles similar to this one.

An excerpt from: http://www.lovelandia.com/dating/articles/article50.php

Lesbians Urged to Get Pap Smears
(Posted: 2003-01-06)


Sexual preference no shield against cancer-causing virus


By Neil Sherman
HealthScoutNews Reporter


FRIDAY, June 1 (HealthScoutNews) -- Many lesbians believe that their sexual preference leaves them less vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, so they don't bother with Pap smears, a new study says.
That mistaken impression, the study suggests, could cost them their health.

Researchers found that almost one in eight gay women were actively shedding the human papilloma virus (HPV), which has been implicated as a chief cause of cervical cancer.

"This work supports our previous findings that HPV occurs in women who never had sex with men, as well as in women who have had sex with men in their remote past," says lead author Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. "The same holds true for Pap smear abnormalities, including precancerous changes in the cervix."

Marrazzo studied 248 women in the Seattle area who had sex with other women and found that 13 percent of them tested positive for HPV. In addition, 4 percent had precancerous changes on their Pap test. Most of these abnormal Pap smears appeared in women who reported no prior sex with men, or who last had sex with men more than a year before the test.

"I think it's highly likely that women who have stopped having sex with men have the ability to pass on HPV to women who have never had sex with men," Marrazzo says.

MM

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Hummm, intresting!

Great Job of finding that Madame!

But, as I said over and over again, talk to your GYN.

 

[Pyper]

It seems the cells that cause cervical cancer are introduced to the woman's body via sexual intercourse with men. So my daughter didn't need one today.

And I wondered....how many lesbians have said "Yes, I'm sexually active" and gone through this procedure unnecessarily?

Talk it over with your GYN and see if you need to ever get a pap smear again!

Hmm, this sounds a bit iffy. My mother's long-time friend is a lesbian, and, while I can't say she's never had sex with a man, she currently has cervical cancer.

I've never found a pap smear to be a difficult or painful procedure, and it's better safe than sorry.

 

[Madame Manga]

Another article, my emphasis: http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/?ak=663

Push for Pap
Health: Lesbians at risk for HPV but some doctors ignore need for pap smears
by Kate Wingfield
Published on 10/02/2003
If a woman rarely or never has sex with men, should she still get regular Pap smears? Absolutely, say experts in lesbian health. Yet a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Washington on the health of lesbians shows that lesbians are not getting as many Pap smears as their hetero sisters. Since Pap smears are the most effective method of screening for pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, some lesbians may be missing a key opportunity for early detection and treatment of cervical cancer, which, according to the National Cancer Institute, kills 4,100 women in the U.S. each year.

So why are lesbians less likely to receive this vital test? According to experts, the reasons vary. But hetero-centric or misinformed doctors are at least partly to blame. Many doctors are apparently failing to recommend Pap smears to women who identify themselves as lesbians because they believe that women who have sex with women will not contract the human papilloma virus (HPV). HPV, commonly known as the virus responsible for genital warts, has some strains which have now been strongly linked to cervical cancer. Since the Pap smear screens for abnormalities caused by HPV, these doctors do not believe lesbians need them.

But doctors who think HPV is an exclusively heterosexual STD are out of step with the current research. Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and lead researcher in the University of Washington study, states, "Our data, and that of other investigators, show clearly that both cancer-causing HPV types and pre-cancerous changes at the cervix occur in these women, both in the absence of sex with men and many years after last sex with men." According to Dr. Marrazzo's website, www.lesbianstd.com, HPV can be passed woman to woman through genital-to-genital contact, through contaminated fingers, and possibly through inadequately cleaned toys.

One reason doctors may be slow in acknowledging the potential danger to lesbians is that the published guidelines use language suggestive of a heterosexual context. Guidelines such as those promulgated by the U.S. Preventative Task Force, for example, refer to "sexual activity" or, in the case of the National Cancer Institute, "sexual intercourse" as markers for the timing of Pap smears (which should begin three years after such activity). Neither defines their terms or the gender of participants.

"I do think that using the term 'sexual intercourse' in the strictest sense (as it's typically used) discounts the not-remote possibility that women can acquire HPV sexually from other women," Dr. Marrazzo says. "I was somewhat disappointed in the language -- though not surprised, since these groups have been slow to focus on the existence, let alone the specific needs, of lesbians, who are just assumed not to have sex, for the most part."

MM

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Madame, I am in utter awe, am wrong, and am woman enough to admit it and offer you thanks for posting this!

THANKS!

 

[Madame Manga]

You are very welcome, and I thank you!

The credit for the information isn't really mine, though. Google is your friend. Google daily for better health.

MM