Men, You Might Need A Pap Smear.

anal_pap_smearx750

No one likes the more invasive parts of a medical exam, but they are very important tools in preventing cancer and HIV. In this case, we’re talking Pap smears. Not just for women anymore. An anal Pap smear can be a crucial in both prevention and early detection. These are fairly new, so there aren’t set standards, and you might need to request one if you’re concerned. All gay and bi men who have anal sex should put this on their medical to do list, and so should women who engage in anal sex.

The main reason to get an anal Pap test is to determine if the human papillomavirus (HPV), a widespread sexually transmitted infection, has sparked anal cancer, pre-cancerous cell growth, or lesions on the tissue of the anus that make you more vulnerable to HIV and other STIs. Unlike HIV, which is transmitted through bodily fluids, HPV is spread through skin-to-skin contact, so using condoms is only partially successful in preventing transmission. HPV may be symptomless. Factors that increase the risk of anal cancer include multiple sex partners or use of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco. Being HIV-positive increases the risk of HPV infection and vice versa. According to the Cancer Network, 95 percent of HIV-positive men who have sex with men already have anal HPV, as do approximately 65 percent of HIV-negative gay and bisexual men. (Note: There is now a vaccine for HPV available.)

Standards aren’t yet well established, unfortunately, which probably means your general practitioner isn’t going to recommend you get one unless you specifically ask for it.

But there’s a growing number of physicians arguing Pap tests should be part of routine screenings for anyone who has anal sex. As with HIV, the receptive partners are at the greatest risk, but anal cancer is a rising cause of illness and death among all men who have sex with men, especially those who are HIV-positive. If a woman is having anal sex, she should also be getting a regular anal Pap.

The Advocate has the full story. Take care of yourselves!

Photo Distraction Hits Again.

House Ways and Means Committee debates Republican health care reform law (ABC/screen grab).

House Ways and Means Committee debates Republican health care reform law (ABC/screen grab).

Trying to read a story, and completely distracted by the lead photo. Look at that – all these white men, one of them looks like he’s dying, and another looks like he’s having a fine nap. No wonder we’re such a fucking mess. Okay, the story…at least a couple of the white dudes are awake:

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) on Tuesday tried to force the Republican Party to uphold President Donald Trump’s promise of “insurance for everybody.”

During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the Republican plan to replace President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, Blumenauer became the first lawmaker to offer an amendment to the GOP bill.

Blumenauer’s amendment would prevent any of the provisions in the American Health Care Act to take effect until the Congressional Budget Office could verify that the law would provide “coverage for all tax payers.”

C6ablGFUwAAjLTO

Via Twitter.

Democrats said that Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) immediately ruled that the amendment was “not in order.”

Oh, so that’s why he looks awake in the photo. Okey dokey.  Rep. Lloyd Doggett was almost on fire over the GOP silence on, well, everything. I hope they were all awake to hear it.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) also offered an amendment to force the president to release his tax returns, but that amendment was voted down by Republicans on the committee.

Via Twitter.

Via Raw Story.

Coming Out At 95 Years Old.

A remarkable story. You can read about it at Out, and the website for the forthcoming documentary is here.

There’s nothing more frightful than coming out for the first time, and it’s a fear that most LGBTQ people face early in their lives. But imagine spending more than 90 years in the closet. What does coming out feel like then?

In a recent video, Roman Blank sat down with YouTube darling Davey Wavey to talk about his coming-out as gay last year—at the age of 95.

“I told [my family] the whole tragedy of my life, and then they understood,” Blank said. “Can you imagine 90 years in the closet?”

Men Say The Stupidest Things.

urkey President Recep Tayyip, South Africa President Jacob Zuma, and President Donald Trump. CREDIT: AP Photo/Adam Peck.

Turkey President Recep Tayyip, South Africa President Jacob Zuma, and President Donald Trump. CREDIT: AP Photo/Adam Peck.

Think Progress has a rundown on the misogynistic stupidity many world leaders spew all over the place. It’s a timely and fitting reminder of just who comprises the worst of obstacles when it comes to equality. I’ll just include the opener here, which is the Tiny Tyrant. You might want to avoid many of the videos, including the one of the Tiny Tyrant. It’s nauseating in the extreme to see people cheering on such open misogyny.

There are few universal truths, but one thing is for certain: women around the globe are still governed by leaders who think less of them. You would guess that lawmakers would be more educated about half of the world’s population, or, at the very least, set their biases aside while leading.

That is not the case.

As women around the world strike in solidarity in honor of International Women’s Day, here is a glimpse of some of the ridiculous, misogynistic comments that presidents and other influential legislators have openly made about women in the past year (in no particular order):

President Donald Trump, USA

We don’t even need to talk about THAT video from 2005. There is plenty of recent material to choose from.

There was that time he called Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman,” and that time he said nobody would vote for Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina because of her face, or that other time he slut-shamed and commented on Miss Universe contestant Alicia Machado’s weight. We’ll just go with this:

The full rundown on stupid, misogynistic men in power is here.

No, It’s Not Trumpcare, It’s Not!

trumpcare__rbel

© RBel.

Kellyanne Conway is back on the airwaves, insisting that the new “healthcare” is not Trumpcare, no, no, no.

Conway, however, pushed back and said that Trump’s name didn’t belong on the bill.

“It’s the American Health Care Act, and I think it’s aptly named that for this reason,” she explained.

So…we went from Affordable to American. Pretty much declares the intent to leave most Americans without any healthcare whatsoever. If you wander over to congress.gov, you will see this: H.R.1275 – World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017. Yep. The Greatest in the whole world! I’m surprised it isn’t H.R.1275 – World’s Greatest Bestest Bigliest Yuuugest Smartest Healthcare Plan of 2017. (Not the same as the American Health Care Act, but still, the fact that it isn’t satire, oh…)

There isn’t enough mockery in the universe for that one.

I’ll call it Trumpcare if you want to, but I didn’t hear President Trump say to any of us, ‘I want my name on that.’ It’s not about branding according to someone’s name. This is serious business.”

Oh, so the king of branding himself doesn’t want to brand something. Right. The sheer duplicity of republicans is overwhelming. Who was it who started the whole Obamacare thing? Oh, yes, republicans.

Via Raw Story.

ETA: There’s now a shift to remove Trump from Trumpcare altogether, and shift all the blame onto Ryan.

The Possession of President Trump.

153740-Trump He-Man image 2

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Kurdish healer who claims to draw his knowledge and powers from God says that US President Donald Trump is possessed and unless he is cured he will either go insane or be killed before finishing his first term in office.

[…]

“Trump is possessed and I need to beat him on the soles of his feet to get the jinni out of his body,” Mala Ali told Rudaw in an interview. “He has lost his mind and oversteps his boundaries all the time. He needs help. Unless he is cured he will continue to act like he does now.”

He predicts meanwhile that Trump will not finish his first term as president and that “he will either go insane or be killed. He has become a creature that attacks everyone.”

Uh oh. That point was reached, and sustained during his campaign.

“I keep saying it but no one is listening to me. A huge number of jinnis have come to Iraq’s sky. Even Lucifer himself is among them and I’ve heard this from the spirits themselves. Jinnis have occupied all of Iraq and Syria and the situation could only get worse,” Mala Ali said.

“Most Iraqi MPs and ministers are possessed and they have come to me and I have thrashed them.

Mala Ali may be onto something here. Oh, not his grandiose claims to be able to heal anything under the sun, that’s bullshit of course, and dangerous bullshit at that. However, if people were given the opportunity to thrash all our so-called leaders, it would no doubt have a healthily cathartic effect.

Via Rudaw.

“Miss Piggy”. “News Bimbo”. “Extremely Unattractive”. “Grab ’em by the Pussy”.

C6ZL8eAWAAIh-zk

Via Twitter.

Mr. Tweet has been at it again, this time tweeting out his “tremendous respect” for women, even as a whole lot of women are out on the streets today, fighting against fascism, and the Fascist-in-Chief. Mr. Tweet has been met with scorn, and I daresay, many near-fatal eyerolls.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday posted a tribute to International Women’s Day on his Twitter feed, and it was met with instant ridicule and disgust from across the web.

The president, who is notorious for making sexist remarks and was even infamously caught on camera bragging about grabbing women’s genitals, wrote on Twitter that he has “tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy.” He also asked his fellow Americans to join him in “honoring the critical role of women here in America & around the world.”

Given his past words and actions, many Twitter users reacted with instant mockery of the president’s supposed “tremendous respect” for women.

It should not be forgotten that Trump has also been accused of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and rape. It’s more than obvious that he doesn’t have the slightest problem with any of those, especially as he’s bragged about being a serial sexual assaulter. He also has a seriously skeevy view of at least one of his daughters. Oh, and let’s not forget that Violence Against Women grants are poised to be cut. Also, there’s that hideous thing he’s trying to pass off as healthcare, which prominently features removing basic care for women. Yeah, there’s tremendous respect for you.

You can see some of the reactions here.