Lots of sex — not much safety

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Women end up bearing a lot of the sexual-health burden, says Scott Williams of the Men's Health Network, because men and teenage boys don't know much about their own health. That disparity "reinforces the idea that men don't have to worry, that it's a woman's issue," says Adina Nack, a sociologist at California Lutheran University.

My friends have had all kinds of romantic and sexual experiences. Some have spent years in devoted relationships, followed after a breakup by a frenzy of new partners. Others focus on serious dating with an eye toward the aisle. Then there is the rake who leaped from his window (first floor) to escape a jealous lover, but later found love, monogamy and a shared apartment. And, oh, the open relationships I've seen.

I estimate about half of my close circle (men and women, whatever their preferences) have had more sexual partners than can be counted on two hands. It's almost inevitable: If you begin dating in your teens or college years and don't get married until, say, your 30s (if ever), the numbers start to add up. In my experience, no particular romantic tendency maps strictly to either gender, but I have noticed which friends tend to be better at protecting themselves from the possible dangers of a rich and varied sex life: women.

Many women have annual gynecological visits starting when they are teenagers, which ideally involve sexual-health counselling, a pelvic exam, a Pap test to screen for cervical-cell irregularities, STD testing and vaccinations. My housemate, for example, has been tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea every year since she was 16, in addition to receiving birth-control counselling and the pelvic and Pap regimen. Such visits make engagement with the health-care system routine and provide a basis for regular care. (A recent study reported 63 per cent of U.S. gynecologists discuss sex with patients, and 40 per cent ask about sexual problems. But those numbers should improve: Young female gynecologists are better on both scores, and the majority of residents entering the profession are female.)

There is no equivalent process for men. And it shows. I've known many men, most of whom identify as straight, who have a decidedly laissez-faire relationship with condoms. Regular STD screenings are not the norm, either. A friend of mine who had slept with close to 20 people didn't get an STD test until his new, and justly horrified, girlfriend frog-marched him to the clinic.

Women end up bearing a lot of the sexual-health burden, says Scott Williams of the Men's Health Network, because men and teenage boys don't know much about their own health. That disparity "reinforces the idea that men don't have to worry, that it's a woman's issue," says Adina Nack, a sociologist at California Lutheran University.

Tests for STDs "are not generally a part of a man's physical checkup unless the doctor picks up signs or symptoms," says Jean Bonhomme, president of the U.S. National Black Men's Health Network. He noted that getting men, particularly the young, to go to the doctor at all, for anything, is a feat roughly equivalent to wrestling an alligator. "I'm not sure men are being regularly tested for a doggone thing."

The numbers bear Bonhomme out. A recent study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found only 57 per cent of men in the U.S. had seen a doctor in the previous year, while 74 per cent of women had.

Many of the experts I interviewed attested to the fact that many men simply drop out of the health-care system entirely after outgrowing their pediatrician, only to re-enter in their 40s. But a host of problems are most likely to bedevil men during the exact time they are least likely to be receiving care. According to the CDC, "Young people represent 25 per cent of the sexually experienced population in the United States, but account for nearly half of new STDs," many of which may not have immediately apparent symptoms, including HPV, chlamydia, syphilis and HIV. Aside from STDs, other diseases often strike during these years; testicular cancer is the most common cancer among men aged 15 to 34.

What would an annual "well-man visit," as the Men's Health Network terms it, look like? Williams' organization recommends HPV vaccinations, annual screenings for gonorrhea and chlamydia and prostate exams for those at higher risk: black men, anyone exposed to Agent Orange and those with a family history of prostate cancer.

Policymakers and health-care stakeholders should take a keener interest in men's sexual and reproductive health. If close to half the population is going without regular, standardized checkups, often for years, public health will be, and is being, harmed. Without such norms, men will continue to be woefully uninformed, unprotected and unexamined. And that's not good for anyone.

-- Slate

Jake Blumgart is a reporter and researcher based in Philadelphia. You can follow him on Twitter at @jblumgart.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 14, 2012 A2