I think we can all agree that this isn't cool. Since HPV makes up the majority of the infections, I think there's a good chance these numbers will go down with use of the HPV vaccine, but it's still a worrisome statistic.
Interesting notes: Only about half of the girls acknowledged having sex. What do we make of that? Doesn't it seem like a lack of education about what sex IS, combine with a whole lot of shame are probably keeping girls from getting the services they need? Combine that with the fact that
"...screening tests are underused in part because many teens don't think they're at risk, but also, some doctors mistakenly think, 'Sexually transmitted diseases don't happen to the kinds of patients I see.'"
and you've got trouble.
I didn't have real sex ed in high school, but I had very honest parents, a good doctor, and access to my mom's copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves. I feel very lucky that I had some guidance. It seems like we're just leaving the vast majority of teen girls to wonder around blindly, trying to find their way. And what do they find instead? CHLAMYDIA.
2 comments:
Grain of Salt
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While you seem to be apalled at the news headline, I think if you learn a little bit more about data collection methods for STD's you may feel a bit more optimistic.
For my part, I am annoyed at yet another negress-bashing article based on iffy research posted on the American news.
A study of 800+ black American girls is taken to represent ALL BLACK GIRLS in the US? The only outcome of this story article will be to have more racists say “Oh those diseased black teen girls.” and have no positive effect at all on teen sexual diseases.
Why does the US media constantly insult, belittle and demonize black people?
Blacks have cancer, Blacks have AIDS, Blacks are poor, Blacks are criminals etc. These stories have one point: to make anyone who sees a black person judge him/her as bad and a white person as good before gathering any data.
It has affected my experience in the US negatively. I did better on every standardized exam, was a celibate teenager, and have a good income and savings. Why doesn’t someone come and interview me and make me a statistic?
In my state, most of the STD data is gotten by testing poor women at free clinics. I know this because I have friends and relatives who are medical researchers, social workers or work in public health, which is BIG business in our major city. Research companies still get their data with a promise of treatment for the disease and monetary payments.
The government has tried to put a stop to coercive methods like the two I just mentioned, but researchers still use them and then publish skewed results of non-representative populations in an effort to continue the flow of grant money, get FDA approval etc.
Most normal women (and I consider myself to be one, although according to the news I am an thieving, illiterate disease-riddled drug addict who caused the subprime mortgage crisis) go to private doctors for their gynecological concerns, and many private doctors do not provide sexual data on their patients to the government. Most women, even black women, go to private doctors for their private sexual concerns and not to free clinics so that their medical information is made public. Therefore this study is not representative of any population and the fact that this article has been published all over the internet is ridiculous.
Even researchers should be aware of “representative” samples of sensitive data such as sexual disease studies. The CDC itself is aware of the problems in the collection of this type of data and says as much on their website:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats04/interpret.htm)
. . .
there may be differences in the policies and systems for collecting surveillance data. Thus, comparisons of case numbers and rates between jurisdictions should be interpreted with caution. . . . In many areas, the reporting from publicly supported institutions (e.g., STD clinics) has been more complete than from other sources (e.g., private practitioners). Thus, trends may not be representative of all segments of the population.
. . .
(end quote)
Of late some institutions have pushed to associate diseases such as AIDS with black populations in the US and Africa with statistics such as “country with the highest prevalence” etc. --in spite of the fact that many eastern European countries refuse to participate in studies for the disease and do not provide accurate numbers of affected persons.
I find this article hard to believe based on my personal experience, and especially considering the prevalence of white women in the omnipresent pornography on the internet and elsewhere who have sex without protection, or the numbers of white prostitutes roaming the country (And every other country I have visited. I would venture to guess that there are very few women left in Bulgaria, Romania and the like). But I supposed pornographers and pimps must provide private doctors for their workers.
I fear that many people will take it as gospel because even though data collection methods are dubious, and the population is small and targeted, they WANT to believe the worst of black people.
While the article did provide a breakdown by race, the overall statistic is still pretty upsetting. While I don't doubt these numbers could be skewed (we always need to be suspicious of the media's interpretation of 'science'), *my* personal experience leads me to suspect that they may actually be under-estimating the actual problem.
As to the effect of taking data from free clinics, it seems to me that this is probably the best way to get data on teens. How many teens get STD testing or gyno care through their family doctor? And who can afford it? If I was at risk for STDs, I'd be taking advantage of every free testing opportunity that came at me -- I don't think that makes me abnormal, I think it just reflects the fact that we live in a country where most people (myself included) have little or no insurance to cover 'elective' testing.
I'm not sure what internet porn and prostitution have to do with the number of teens infected with STDs. Teens get infected through normal sexual activity; more than anything, their likelihood for ending up with a disease has a lot more to do with the availability of the resources they need to protect themselves and get immediate treatment if they are infected.
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