No, this title doesn't refer to overeating and weight gain. Nope, this title refers to something a bit sexier than eating - it's about ORAL SEX. But it's not the part that ever gets discussed - not the pleasant aspects of it, but the scary part.
Back in February of this year, an article appeared on a website by Kaiser Health News. The link to that article is here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/03/01/133968901/virus-passed-during-oral-sex-tops-tobacco-as-throat-cancer-cause (sorry, the original Kaiser source didn't archive it, though everyone else did!)
When I teach on this topic and as we discuss the linked article (above) I make mention of a person named Bill Clinton who said under oath in 1999: I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Of course later he admitted she performed oral sex on him, but that of course "wasn't sex".
As the title implies, performing oral sex on a man or woman is now the leading cause of cancer of the oropharnyxl region, resulting in more oral cancer than from smoking by a large margin! The link between the human papilloma virus (HPV) and cervical cancer has been know and publicized for many years but the link between oral sex and oral cancer is rarely discussed. This is a particularly important topic because as the article indicates teens don't consider oral sex to really be sex.
So in addition to abstinence, I try and suggest monogamy as a safer sex option. Other options include masturbation (alone) and mutual masturbation with another. Condoms have been preached in schools for years and continue to be preached now, but rarely are condoms used for oral sex on a man, or a dental dam (see photo) used over a woman's vulva to protect against fluids being mixed or received. The only good news here is that there are vaccinations for both girls and boys like Gardasil that can protect against the majority of strains of HPV. The other only slightly good news from the article says that oral cancer caused from HPV is less deadly than the oral cancers caused from smoking and or drinking.
