are you fucking kidding me, pharmaceutical companies?

[cabell]

The email I just sent to hulu after seeing an APPALLING advertisement in the middle of In Plain Sight:

To Whom It May Concern

Comments

[belleweather]

I actually had cervical cancer badly enough to have a major cone biopsy/excision done in 2000. And yeah. I thought I was going to DIE. The nurse who was delivering the news did absolutely NOTHING to dissuade me from that thought and actually told me that it likely meant that I'd never have kids or be able to carry a pregnancy to term and that my 'best case scenario' would be that they'd have to sew my cervix shut and put me on bed rest should I actually become pregnant.

Which I say just to point out that the cultural of ignorance goes a fuck of a lot deeper than hulu and Glaxo-Smith-Klein.

[montrealais]

My favourite :rolleyes: example of ignorance on this score was an account on a message board I read once (in response to my then-boyfriend sharing an especially egregious but non-cervix-related medical homophobia story of his own):

Woman: *is in for a gyno exam incl. pap smear*
Gyno: *automatically writes scrip for birth control pills*
Woman: Thanks, but I don't need this.
Gyno: Omgwtf! Are you trying to get pregnant or what?
Woman: No, I'm a lesbian. I don't need birth control.
Gyno: Oh. ...Then what are you having pap smears for?

*insert sound of headdesking from cis gay boy who apparently knows more about gyno stuff than that gynecologist*

BTW, here's how to do it right. An additional way.

[belleweather]

Well, hey... at least the doc didn't make her take the script anyway, because you just never know. Planned Parenthood where I went to college was famous for that particular shenanigan.

[eeanm]

I wonder if this is a case of the gynecologist not understanding that you can get HPV without involvement of penis, or if she thinks pap smears are done so that you can check that box off when prescribing birth control, totally forgetting why that rule was made in the first place.

[mystickeeper]

As someone who interacts with pharmaceutical companies every day.....I hate them and their practices, too.

[illegalseagull]

You know what? I really have to thank you for writing that letter.

I'm just going to dive into a personal anecdote here, but I experienced an abnormal pap mere weeks ago, and the ONLY information I had been previously exposed to was truly utter fear-mongering. Then I actually talked to a medical professional, and I was really outraged at the absurd panic the vaccine drug companies are trying to stir up. So unnecessary.

So thanks, Cabell. That's all.

[eeanm]

I saw a really weird HPV vaccine poster up at U Iowa here the other day. It listed a few scary facts about HPV (which were perfectly reasonable facts, HPV causes cervical cancer, you can't tell if your boyfriend has HPV, something else) and then just said to go ask your college health clinic about what you should do.

I have no clue why it didn't just advertise the vaccine.