Timothy Kincaid tears NYC Health a new assholeânew and presumably cancer-freeâfor their diseased-anus-mongering HIV prevention campaign. He's particularly annoyed, and particularly persuasive, about that the ad's cancerous asshole angle:
So far, I donât necessarily quibble with accuracy of the psa, though the imagery suggests that these possible consequences are likely to be onset in early life, a false implication. But now letâs turn to one of my pet peeves, the ooky-spooky (and mostly bogus) anal cancer scare.Yes, anal cancer exists. And yes it has higher rates in gay men than straight and even higher in HIV positive men. But the inclusion of anal cancer as a âhigher riskâ and the â28 times more likelyâ language tells me that this psa has no credibility whatsoever. It is not designed to inform, but to frighten.
The anal cancer scare is a favorite tactic of anti-gay activists. And it is irresponsible and immoral behavior when they seek to demonize gay men by claims that âhomosexuality is by its very nature dangerous to those who practice it.â It is no less irresponsible and immoral to use this scare tactic in the advance of a noble cause like encouraging condom use.
Anal cancer is very rare. In the US, about 5,260 people per year get this disease, of which about 40% are men (so, as you can see, women are 50% more likely to get anal cancer. Beware!!). About 720 patients die. Anal cancer is highly associated with HPV infection (though the vast majority of those infected with the HPV virus never develop anal cancer) and a vaccine is available which eliminates this risk factor....
There are, indeed, many many good reasons to avoid infection with HIV. But fear of anal cancer is not one of them.
RTWT.