Controversial Issues
Cancer threat deals blow to oral sex fans
By Dr. Kunio Kitamura, special to the Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, Japan
Did you know the mouth is often referred to as the "second set of genitals?" The mouth has skin, the oral cavity is covered in a membrane and saliva builds up inside. The mouth is split between upper and lower sections and if you turn it on its side, you can see the composition is basically the same as a vagina.
Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be to call the mouth the "walking genitals." Covered in lipstick, the mouth can be a tremendous source of arousal, be it on the streets, or riding on the train, or whatever. The mouth talks, it eats, it kisses. I don't think anybody would deliberately use the mouth to eat rotten food, but nonetheless there are lots of men who like to stick their hardly sanitary penises into others' mouths. Proof of this can be seen in just about any adult movie as they invariably include a fellatio scene. Many men enjoy fellatio, saying that when they receive oral sex they feel it is an indication of how much a woman loves them.
Many women, however, come to me with complaints about being forced to perform oral sex on men. I always advise them that they should feel free to tell their partner that they don't want to do something they don't like. And I add that there's nothing wrong with asking a man not to force them to give oral sex even after they have told him they don't like doing it.
Recent research in the United States has found a strong link between fellatio and oral cancer. I've talked in the past about how the human papilloma-virus (HPV) has been found to be a cause of cervical cancer. Researchers are now learning that the HPV can be transferred to all sorts of parts on the human body through the skin and membranes. Among the body parts where HPV can be transmitted are the mouth, throat, tongue, tonsils, vagina, penis and anus. There are over 80 different types of HPV, but the most dangerous are HPV16 and HPV18, which is said to be found in over 95 percent of cases of cervical cancer. These types of HPV greatly increase the risk of contracting oral cancer. Studies have found that those who have performed fellatio on five or more men have a 2.5 times greater risk of getting oral cancer than those who have never given a man oral sex. This study shows us that there is a link between HPV and oral cancer.
Dr. Maura Gillison at Johns Hopkins University took blood and saliva samples from 100 people who had contracted oral cancer and healthy people, as well as surveyed them on their sexual experience, the number of sex partners, their oral sex experience, whether they had the HPV and their smoking and alcohol consumption histories. She learned that those who had contracted HPV were 32 times more likely to contract oral cancer than people who had never had the virus. Those who had picked up HPV16 were 58 times more likely to get oral cancer, and the risk for smokers and drinkers was three times greater than those who do not smoke or drink alcohol. When looking into sexual experience, those who had given fellatio to one to five people had double the risk of getting oral cancer, while the likelihood increased to five times if they had performed oral sex on six or more men. Gillison has said that HPV contracted through oral sex must be regarded as increasing the risk of oral cancer. It should be noted that kissing can not be ruled out as a risk of HPV transmission.
Research is continuing in Japan to develop an HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, but these studies all have in mind only women without sexual experience. It seems like there is also a need to seriously consider a vaccine for men, too. For us, the best way to fight against the risk of oral cancer is to make sure we use condoms, not just when joining the genitals, but also when engaging in oral sex. For those who find the taste of rubber unsavory, I recommend tropical condoms, which are available in orange, strawberry and banana flavors. And did you know you can also get latex sheets that cover the female genitals?
(By Dr. Kunio Kitamura, special to the Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, Japan)
