Cosmetic genital surgery - labiaplasty and
phalloplasty:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Cosmetic_genital_surgery_labiaplasty_and_phalloplasty?open
Cosmetic genital surgery involves reshaping the labia, vulva or penis. Some people opt for this surgery because they
feel unhappy about the look of their genitals. An operation to change the look of the genitals is sometimes referred to
as ‘aesthetic genital surgery’.
Female genital reshaping or labiaplasty aims to change the size and shape of the inner labia or the inner lips of the
vulva. Penis enlargement or augmentation surgery (phalloplasty) is used to increase length, width or both of the penis.
Labiaplasty and phalloplasty are not the same as gender reassignment surgeries.
If you are concerned about the way you look or are thinking about cosmetic treatments to boost your confidence,
there are alternatives. Another option is to accept yourself the way you are and realise that normal, healthy genitals
come in a wide range of shapes and sizes.
Things to consider:
Before you opt for cometic genital surgery, there are some important issues to keep in mind:
Be aware that you will have scars. Although the scars may fade significantly with time, they will always be
visible.
Labiaplasty will not make the vagina smaller or tighter. This requires a different operation called a vaginoplasty.
Phalloplasty can only increase the length or width of the penis shaft, not the head.
Phalloplasty to lengthen the penis will only make the penis appear longer when flaccid – it will not be longer
when erect.
Think about the financial burden. Cosmetic surgery does not usually qualify for rebates from Medicare or private
health insurance companies.
Smokers are at increased risk of complications. If you are serious about undergoing cosmetic surgery, you
should quit try to smoking.
Finding a surgeon
You may want to ask your doctor (GP) for advice on a suitable and reputable doctor or hospital where cosmetic
genital surgery is performed. At your first consultation, you should ask the surgeon about their training and
experience. It is preferable to have this procedure done by a reputable professional who is specially trained to perform
cosmetic genital surgery and has a lot of experience in carrying out this type of surgery.
Medical issues
Before surgery, you need to discuss a range of medical issues with your doctor or surgeon including:
Physical health – an examination will help your doctor or surgeon to decide if the treatment is appropriate.
Medical history – some pre-existing conditions and surgeries you have had in the past may influence
decisions about this operation, including the type of anaesthetic that is used.
Psychiatric history – some surgeons may suggest or insist that you receive counselling before you consider
cosmetic genital surgery.
Risks and possible complications – it is important that you understand the risks and complications so that
you can weigh up whether cosmetic genital surgery is right for you.
Medications – tell the surgeon about any that you take on a regular basis or have recently taken, including
over-the-counter preparations like fish oils and vitamin supplements.
Past reactions to drugs – tell the surgeon if you have ever had a bad reaction or a side effect from any drugs
including anaesthesia.
Preparation for surgery – your surgeon will give you detailed instructions on what you should do at home to
prepare for surgery. For example, you may be advised to take a particular drug or alter the dose of an existing
medication. Follow all instructions carefully.
The operation
The details of the surgery will depend on individual factors, but generally include:
Labiaplasty – the operation is usually performed to reduce the size of the labia minora (inner lips). General or
local anaesthesia may be used. The surgeon removes the unwanted tissue and remodels the labia into the
desired size and shape. Alternatively, a wedge-shaped section of the labia is removed. Some surgeons use a
laser instead of a scalpel to reduce bleeding. Occasionally, a labiaplasty is performed to reduce the size of the
labia majora (outer lips). Some women choose to have surgery to tighten the vagina (vaginoplasty) during the
same operation.
Enlargement phalloplasty – this operation increases penis length. General or local anaesthesia may be used.
The surgeon makes an incision (cut) at the base of the penis and cuts the ligament that attaches the penis to
the body. This will cause the penis to extend out further from the body. The penis is not actually longer but
more of it is visible.
Girth enlargement phalloplasty – this operation increases the width of the penis. General or local anaesthesia
may be used. Using fatty tissue harvested (removed) from another part of your body, the surgeon may sew
strips of fat underneath the skin of the penis (dermal fat grafting) or inject fat into the penis (fat transfer or fat
transplant).
Full phalloplasty – some men choose to have the penis increased in both length and girth during the same
operation.
After the operation, you may expect:
Bruising and swelling
Possible numbness
Pain and discomfort
To wear dressings or bandages.
Possible complications
All surgery carries some degree of risk. Some of the possible complications of cosmetic genital surgery include:
Risks of general anaesthesia including allergic reaction, which may (rarely) be fatal
Surgical risks such as bleeding or infection
Scars that may be severe, raised, reddened and itchy
Unevenness – the labia may not be symmetrical
Permanent colour change to the labia
Nerve damage to the labia or penis including permanent loss of sensation
Irregular shape to the penis following fat transfer
Impotence (inability to get or maintain a erection)
Tissue death along the wound or skin loss
Further surgery to treat complications.
This is not a complete list. For example, your medical history or lifestyle may put you at increased risk of certain
complications. You need to speak to your surgeon for more information.
Taking care of yourself at home
Recovery may take at least six weeks. Be guided by your surgeon, but general self-care suggestions include:
Follow all instructions on looking after your wounds.
Wear penile weights as directed for a few weeks after you have phalloplasty.
Avoid sex for at least six weeks.
Report any bleeding, severe pain or unusual symptoms to your surgeon.
Long-term outlook
Scarring will be permanent but should fade in time. Be patient – improvements to scars may take around a year or so.
The results of labiaplasty are permanent. If fat transfer has been used to widen the penis, this is not permanent and it
will disappear over time because the body tends to reabsorb about 50 per cent of the injected fat. Top-up injections
may be required. Following phalloplasty to lengthen the penis, the angle of the erection may be lower but this should
not affect sexual intercourse.
Other options
Most people choose to have cosmetic genital surgery because they are unhappy with their appearance. However,
some people may not realise that normal, healthy genitals come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. If you are
concerned about your appearance, talking to a counsellor or psychologist may help you overcome your concerns and
you may decide that you like yourself the way you are.
The Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons Information Hotline Tel. 1300 367 446
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Tel. (03) 9249 1200
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Tel. 1300 419 495
Things to remember
Female genital re-shaping or labiaplasty is performed to change the size and shape of the inner labia, the inner
lips of the vulva.
Penis enlargement or augmentation surgery (phalloplasty) is performed to increase penis length, girth or both.
Labiaplasty and phalloplasty are not gender reassignment surgeries.
Talk with your surgeon about the risks and benefits of aesthetic genital surgery and what results you can
expect.
This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:
The Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons
Content on this website is provided for education and information purposes only. Information about a therapy, service, product or treatment
does not imply endorsement and is not intended to replace advice from your qualified health professional.
For the latest updates and more information, visit www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
Copyight © 1999/2011 State of Victoria. Reproduced from the Better Health Channel (www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au) at no cost with
permission of the Victorian Minister for Health.
History of the Vibrator...
In the late part of the 19th Century,women were reporting to their doctors feelings of heaviness in their lower parts, being moody , experiencing headaches, being anxious, symptoms that were often diagnosed as "hysteria"hysteria. After awhile these symptoms were coined “hysteria pandemic”!.
And so, women started visiting their doctors to ‘relieve’ the symptoms of hysteria by massaging the vulva. This would induce “hysterical paroxysm” otherwise known as an orgasm!!
As it was such a ‘hands on’ job an entrepreneurial Doctor invented the first vibrator. The first vibrator consisted with a contraption the used jets of water to the common handheld, electric power devices the size of a large hairdryer. These electric vibrators were not small enough or cheap enough to be sold for home use and thus were marketed for the health and wellbeing of women (Sears Reebok carried them in their catalogues). By 1917 there were more vibrators in American homes than toasters!!!
By the late1920's vibrators began appearing in so called ‘stag’ films and the vibrator slipped out of the mainstream as perceptions of the vibrator shifted from the health and wellbeing benefits to a more sexualized image. From the 1950's to 1970's mail-order catalogues were full of ‘camouflaged vibrators’, ranging from nail buffer kits through to attachments for vacuum cleaners! Thankfully, not only have times changed for women, the designs have too with the creation of the Be Be!
To learn more about this fascinating piece of history, click on the link www.technologyoforgasm.com
For more information visit: http://www.facebook.com/l/4e5699LK95NwqsSdAHJd8-PETJw/www.lovebeingwoman.com/
Semen as an Antidepressant
A recent study has suggested that semen acts as an antidepressant in women, so that women physically exposed to semen are less likely to suffer from depression.
It is thought that the psychological effects of semen are a result of its complex chemical make-up including several mood-altering hormones (testosterone, oestrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin and several different prostaglandins).
In a scientific survey of 293 college women it was also found that those who did not use condoms were most likely to initiate sex and to seek out new partners as soon as a relationship ended, suggesting that the chemical dependency to semen creates a "rebound effect".
The effect of semen on a male sexual partner (a receiver of semen) is not known.
Further Reading
- Semen - What is Semen?
- Semen Physiology
- Semen and Culture
- Swallowing Semen
- Increasing Semen Volume
- Semen Allergy
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Semen" All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
South Africa: "Corrective Rape"
"Corrective Rape" is a term used to describe when a male rapes a lesbian with the aim of 'turning' her heterosexual!
This heinous crime is prolific in South Africa, especially in the "townships".
Most of the victims are tortured, grievously assaulted and sometimes murdered! They are also prone to getting HIV/AIDS from the assault, and many of them commit suicide as a result of the "corrective rape"!
The South African government and justice system are failing the victims of Corrective Rape by letting the perpetrators out on ridiculously low bail, and taking literally years to bring the court-cases to a conclusion. In the meantime the victims have to live with seeing and being taunted and threatened by their rapists every day, as do those who help the victims!
In the last 10 years: *31 lesbian women have been murdered because of their sexuality *More than 10 lesbians a week are raped or gang raped in Cape Town alone *150 women are raped every day in South Africa *For every 25 men accused of rape in South Africa, 24 walk free
Despite all this, hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are not recognised by South African law!
VAGINISMUS AND BOTOX
| Summary of current program using Botox for Vaginismus as of January 2010 What is Vaginismus? | Vaginismus is spasm of the vaginal muscles that results in response to the fear of vaginal penetration. It can be thought of as a phobia and like any phobia the fear is exaggerated and often the patient is compromised because of the phobia. As with a phobia there are varying degrees of severity. The causes of vaginismus are generally thought to be unknown though in our own group of patients there is a high percentage of some type of psychosexual trauma such as hearing about bleeding and tearing with the first intercourse, strict sexual upbringing sometimes with religious overtones (going to “hell” if you have intercourse before marriage), fear of childbirth, rough GYN exams, and sexual molestation at a young age. It is the leading cause of unconsummated marriages and afflicts women worldwide.
The Phase 3 trial, sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals, based in Belgium, with support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, began in 2002. A total of 8,323 women aged 18-30 years participated in the trial at 50 sites in the United States and Canada. At the time of their enrollment, the study participants were free of the two types of herpes simplex viruses (HSV), HSV-1 and HSV-2.
Participants in the Herpevac trial were randomly divided into two groups. One group received the candidate vaccine, containing HSV protein along with an adjuvant intended to boost immune responses. The second, control group received a version of Havrix, a licensed vaccine against hepatitis A. This study design gave all participants the potential opportunity to be protected against either genital herpes or hepatitis A. GSK developed the candidate vaccine and also manufactures Havrix.
Each volunteer was vaccinated at the beginning of the study and again one and six months later. The participants were followed for 20 months after the initial injection and evaluated at each visit for HSV infection and genital herpes disease.
In two earlier studies involving men and women who did not have genital herpes but whose sexual partners were known to be infected, the candidate vaccine prevented genital herpes disease in more than 70 percent of the female volunteers who were free of HSV-1 and HSV-2 but had no clear effect in men. These studies formed the basis to conduct the larger Herpevac study in women only.
In the Herpevac study, however, the investigational vaccine was ineffective in protecting against genital herpes disease. The estimate of vaccine effectiveness was 20 percent, but all estimates have statistical uncertainty, and this effect was not substantially different from zero.
It is not known at this time why the vaccine proved ineffective, but the study collaborators continue to evaluate the trial data and intend to provide a more detailed analysis at a later date.
All the study investigators have been informed of the results. Study participants are being notified as to which vaccine they received, and those volunteers who received the candidate herpes vaccine are being offered Havrix.
HSV-1 and HSV-2, which cause cold sores and genital herpes disease, may be transmitted through sexual or other skin-to-skin contact, and can be spread even when the infected individual shows no symptoms. HSV can cause severe illness in infants born to HSV-infected women, and the virus has been identified as a risk factor for HIV transmission in adults. An estimated 1 in 4 women in the United States has genital herpes.
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NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (2010, September 30). Genital herpes vaccine ineffective in women, study suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/09/100930101549.htm
Knowing cultural view of virginity, Chinese women try surgical restoration
By Keith B. Richburg in beijing Tuesday, August 17, 2010; A06
China has long been known as the land of fakes -- Rolexes, DVDs, handbags and designer clothes.
Add a new one to the list: fake virgins.
A growing number of Chinese women -- mostly in their 20s and about to get married -- are opting for a surgical procedure called "hymen restoration," which returns the hymen to its condition before it was ruptured, which typically occurs during first sexual contact but can also happen while playing sports or doing other strenuous activities.
Even as China has flung open its doors to the West and modernized, a deeply conservative and chauvinistic attitude persists. Many men, including white-collar professionals, say they want to marry a virgin. And increasingly liberated Chinese women have found a way to oblige them.
"We can fix it so everything is perfect, so the men can believe they are marrying virgins," said Zhou Hong, a physician and director of gynecology at the Beijing Wuzhou Women's Hospital. "We don't advertise it; we don't publicize it."
Zhou, 44, said most of her patients are sexually active young women who are about to marry and have told their future husbands they are virgins. She said a smaller number want to forget a bad relationship and "start over," and a few have been victims of rape.
Zhou is one of many Chinese doctors performing the procedure, which is also done in other countries. She said she restores as many as 20 hymens a month, and the number is increasing. For as little as 5,000 renminbi, or about $737, for a 20-to-30-minute procedure, Zhou is giving women a second chance at having a first time.
Does she worry that she is encouraging people to start their marriages with a lie? "It's just a white lie," Zhou said. And she blames men for having unrealistic expectations.
"I don't agree with this value" placed on virginity, Zhou said. "It's unfair to the women. The men are not virgins. But we can't change this male-privileged society."
The surgery, known as hymenoplasty, has been around for years, although it is considered rare and is illegal in some countries. It is performed primarily in Muslim countries, where the traditionalists place a high value on a woman's virginity. It also has become common in France among French Muslims, usually for young women about to enter a traditional marriage. There are no statistics available in China on how often the surgery is performed. But sociologists and other experts, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggest it has gained in popularity.
For women who do not want to have surgery, a cheaper, faster path to "revirgination" is available in most sex novelty shops: a Chinese-made artificial hymen that purports to create a physical sensation for the man and emit fake blood when ruptured.
A 25-year-old woman from Guiyang recently bought several online, intending to resell them to young women in her circle. Some of her friends, she said, were worried that their boyfriends might leave if the truth about their virginity was known.
"It's really worthless for couples to break up over this small issue," said the woman, who asked not to be quoted by name.
Some sociologists and others have criticized the virginity obsession as emblematic of a male-dominated society in which women are viewed as sex objects. And they are equally critical of women undergoing potentially dangerous or painful medical procedures to conform.
"I think it is really stupid for women to do this kind of surgery and buying fake hymens," said Li Yinhe, a sociologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the country's preeminent sexologist. "It's self-deception."
The virginity topic has surfaced in recent newspaper columns and Internet debates. Several men posting comments on a popular Web site blamed women for what they called modern women's materialism when seeking a mate.
"Women demand men have houses and cars, why can't men demand women be virgins?" asked one man on the Tianya site. "So, greedy women, remember, you have to protect your hymens, because those are big dowries for you to exchange for money."
Some men who were interviewed agreed about the importance of finding a virgin. "I really care about virginity," said Xia Yang, product manager for a technology company. "If you go to buy a cellphone, of course you'd want to buy a new cellphone. Who would spend the same amount of money to buy an old cellphone that's been used for two years?"
The virginity debate also underscores a contradiction in modern China: As the nation becomes more freewheeling, there remains a deeply conservative core.
"Since the reforms began 30 years ago, sexual relations in China are actually quite chaotic," said Chen Lan, a novelist and social commentator. "One-night stands, extramarital affairs, prostitution. . . . All this means Chinese women have more frequent sexual activity, and at a younger and younger age. And this makes men feel women's bodies are not as clean as before. In these circumstances, men care even more about a woman's virginity."
Zhou, the gynecologist, is unruffled by the controversy.
She said that she hears from satisfied clients after they are married, women who text-message her to say that the wedding night was a success.
"That's the happiest thing for us," she said.
Researcher Liu Liu in Beijing contributed to this report.
Gilead AIDS drug safe for HIV prevention in study
| 5:04am EDT | By Kate Kelland
The survey, done by the English Netmums website, found three-quarters of women having less sex because of longer work hours, but when they do have sex, they’re much more adventurous when compared to last year’s survey, TheSun.co.uk reported.
The study shows 76 percent of women use porn, that’s a 10 percent rise from last year’s survey of women who admitted watching porn with their partners.
The most popular format is online porn, which is watched by 61 percent of couples.
Just one couple in 20 looks at magazines, while 18 percent watch porn DVD’s.
The survey of 4,200 women also revealed four in five women like to dress up and indulge in role play.
A French maid uniform is used by 42 percent of women, followed by nurses uniform, while 16 percent of couples like the policewoman uniform.
More than half of the women said they use sex toys in the bedroom to add excitement.
"Our survey shows they are taking control in the bedroom," Netmums founder Siobhan Freegard said. "They know what to do to get their sex lives back on track and are not afraid to experiment and introduce new methods to spice things up."
"During this age of multi-tasking, when we all wish there were 25 hours in a day, at least women are going after quality sex when they are having it," Katy Zvolerin, Adam & Eve's public relations director told XBIZ. "That women are willing to experiment more and become more adventurous says a lot. We are finding that themed lingerie, costumes and toys are much more popular than in years past, and a great way to add fun in the bedroom."
Last year’s survey showed more than half weren’t happy with their sex life, but this year more than 60 percent claimed to enjoy a fulfilling sex life.
| http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204144815.htm |
First Discovery of the Female Sex Hormone Progesterone in a Plant
Leaves of the walnut tree contain progesterone, the female sex hormone, discovered for the first time in a plant. (Credit: iStockphoto)
ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2010) — In a finding that overturns conventional wisdom, scientists are reporting the first discovery of the female sex hormone progesterone in a plant. Until now, scientists thought that only animals could make progesterone. A steroid hormone secreted by the ovaries, progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy and maintains pregnancy. A synthetic version, progestin, is used in birth control pills and other medications.The discovery is reported in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products.
"The significance of the unequivocal identification of progesterone cannot be overstated," the article by Guido F. Pauli and colleagues, states. "While the biological role of progesterone has been extensively studied in mammals, the reason for its presence in plants is less apparent." They speculate that the hormone, like other steroid hormones, might be an ancient bioregulator that evolved billions of years ago, before the appearance of modern plants and animals. The new discovery may change scientific understanding of the evolution and function of progesterone in living things. Scientists previously identified progesterone-like substances in plants and speculated that the hormone itself could exist in plants. But researchers had not found the actual hormone in plants until now. Pauli and colleagues used two powerful laboratory techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy, to detect progesterone in leaves of the Common Walnut, or English Walnut, tree. They also identified five new progesterone-related steroids in a plant belonging to the buttercup family.
Genital Herpes Virus Reactivates Widely Throughout Genital Tract
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2010) — Genital herpes caused by a reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is generally treated as a lesion in one specific area of the genital region. A new study, however, finds that the virus can frequently reactivate throughout the genital tract, an important new concept that could help guide both HSV-2 treatment and prevention. Now available online, the study appears in the Feb. 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
In the study, Christine Johnston, MD, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle collected daily samples during a 30-day period from seven separate genital sites in four women infected with HSV-2. HSV-2 was detected from more than one anatomic site on 56 percent of days when there was viral shedding -- and on genital surfaces on both sides of the participants' bodies on most days when virus was detected at more than one site.
Using a detailed sampling method and a sensitive assay, the authors showed that both symptomatic and asymptomatic HSV-2 reactivations often occurred at widely spaced regions throughout the genital tract. These reactivations were often on both sides of the body, even though clinical lesions typically emanate from one anatomic spot. The study's findings illustrate an important new concept in HSV-2 pathogenesis, the authors wrote, and may help in developing comprehensive treatment that both suppresses and limits the transmission of HSV-2 infection.
The authors also noted limitations of their study, including a small sample size and the unique features of the study's subjects. For example, all participants had a history of symptomatic genital herpes, and three of the four had acquired HSV-2 infection within the past year, increasing the chances of high viral reactivation and lesion rates. Additionally, although there were a high proportion of days with lesions during the study period, two of the participants who had recently acquired genital herpes contributed the majority of lesion days.
In an accompanying editorial, Edward W. Hook III, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, called the study's findings "of great potential importance, as they further challenge widely held beliefs regarding genital herpes and, by extension, its management." Many clinicians treat patients with newly diagnosed herpes episodically, managing the signs and symptoms of periodic symptomatic recurrences, Dr. Hook wrote. "From a personal and public health perspective, the biology of the infection suggests that a national campaign for serological testing of those at risk would provide the foundation for more effective efforts to control HSV transmission to others, and that for most sexually active persons with HSV-2 whose sex partners are not known to also be infected, suppressive therapy should be the preferred approach."
Adapted from materials provided by Infectious Diseases Society of America.
TV Drama Can Be More Persuasive Than News Program, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2010) — A fictional television drama may be more effective in persuading young women to use birth control than a news-format program on the same issue, according to a new study.
Researchers found that college-age women who viewed a televised drama about a teen pregnancy felt more vulnerable two weeks after watching the show, and this led to more support for using birth control.
However, those who watched a news program detailing the difficulties caused by teen pregnancies were unmoved, and had no change in their intentions to use birth control.
The results show the power that narratives like TV shows can have in influencing people, said Emily Moyer-Gusé, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.
"A message that is hidden inside of a story may overcome some of the resistance people have to being told how to behave," Moyer-Gusé said.
"The impact that dramatized stories have on people's beliefs and intentions depends a lot on the individual viewers, and not just the message -- but our results suggest the effect can be there."
Moyer-Gusé conducted the study with Robin Nabi of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Their research appears in the current issue of the journal Human Communication Research.
The study involved 353 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25. All of them watched one of two programs that focused on the difficulties associated with unplanned teen pregnancies.
Half of the participants watched a program developed by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy to be broadcast on Channel One -- a news program that airs in many U.S. high schools. This program used a news format, and profiled male and female teen parents. The overall message was that teen pregnancy makes life as a young adult more difficult.
The remaining participants watched an episode of the U.S. teen drama, The OC. In this episode, high-school students Ryan and Theresa faced the difficult consequences of an unintended pregnancy.
The programs were pre-tested with other students, who agreed that they both had the same main message concerning the difficulties of teen pregnancy.
Before watching the programs, participants completed questionnaires concerning how often they used some form of birth control if they were sexually active, and their intentions to use birth control over the next year.
Immediately after viewing the programs, participants filled out questionnaires concerning how much they were emotionally involved in the program, how much they identified with the characters, and other issues concerning their response to the programs they viewed.
Two weeks later, they were contacted again and asked about their intentions to use birth control.
The researchers found that male and females had different responses to the programs.
Watching the news-format program had no effect on men's safe-sex intentions two weeks later.
But two weeks after watching The OC, men said they were actually less likely to follow birth control practices than they did before they viewed the program. That was probably because men reported they didn't like the program as much as women did, and didn't identify with the characters, Moyer-Gusé said.
Women had a different reaction to the programs. The news-format program had no effect on their intentions to use birth control. But those who watched The OC episode were more likely to report in two weeks that they planned on taking steps to prevent pregnancy.
The findings revealed some of the underlying mechanisms that made the TV drama persuasive to many women viewers.
Findings showed that viewers who said they identified with the two main characters in The OC episode also felt, when contacted two weeks later, that they were more vulnerable to an unplanned pregnancy. That, in turn, led to greater intentions to use birth control.
"Many of the women participants were able to put themselves in the place of the characters and sense they could end up in a similar situation if they weren't careful," Moyer-Gusé said.
Feeling vulnerable was the key to accepting birth control practices for the women in the study.
"One of the reasons why some people avoid safer sex behaviors is because they feel invulnerable -- they have this optimistic bias that nothing bad will ever happen to them," she said.
"But if you vicariously experience a bad result happening to you by watching a narrative program, that may change behavior in a way that is difficult to achieve through a direct message."
Participants, particularly women, were more likely to be persuaded to use birth control if they felt the program they watched didn't have an overt safe-sex message.
Most people didn't think The OC episode was preaching the use of birth control, but those who did were much less likely to increase their intentions to use birth control, the findings showed.
In addition, those who reported that they reacted to the characters in The OC as if they were friends were also less likely to see an overt message in the show, and were more likely to accept birth control practices.
Moyer-Gusé emphasized that the results don't mean that men aren't persuaded by narratives such as TV dramas.
"The show we chose happened to connect less with the men. But if we picked another topic or another show, I believe a narrative program could also be persuasive to male viewers."
While these results suggest persuasive messages might be better received by people if they are wrapped up in a story, Moyer-Gusé cautions that it isn't always that simple. As the different reactions of men and women
in this study showed, a lot depends on the individual viewers and not just the message.
"The problem with using stories to persuade people is that people can interpret them in different ways. You don't always get the results you expect," she said.
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Herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) typically causes genital herpes, a chronic, life-long, viral infection. Although studies indicate that consistent condom use reduces the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, the effectiveness of preventing the transmission of HSV-2 through condom use is less certain, according to background information in the article.
Emily T. Martin, M.P.H., Ph.D., of Children's Hospital Research Institute and the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues analyzed data from six HSV-2 studies to assess the effectiveness of condom use in preventing the virus. The studies included three candidate HSV-2 vaccine studies, an HSV-2 drug study, an observational sexually transmitted infection (STI) incidence study and a behavioral STI intervention study. These yielded results from 5,384 HSV-2-negative individuals (average age 29) at baseline for a combined total of 2,040,894 follow-up days.
More than 66 percent of those who took part in the six studies were male, 60.4 percent were white, 94.1 percent were heterosexual and most reported no prior STIs.
A total of 415 of the individuals acquired HSV-2 during follow-up. "Consistent condom users [used 100 percent of the time] had a 30 percent lower risk of HSV-2 acquisition compared with those who never used condoms," the authors write. "Risk of HSV-2 acquisition decreased by 7 percent for every additional 25 percent of the time that condoms were used during anal or vaginal sex." The risk of acquiring the virus increased significantly with increasing frequency of unprotected sex acts. There were no significant differences found in condom effectiveness between men and women.
"Based on findings of this large analysis using all available prospective data, condom use should continue to be recommended to both men and women for reducing the risk of HSV-2 acquisition," the authors conclude. "Although the magnitude of the protective effect was not as large as has been observed with other STIs, a 30 percent reduction in HSV-2 incidence can have a substantial benefit for individuals as well as a public health impact at the population level."
Funding for this project was provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Journal reference:
- Emily T. Martin, MPH; Elizabeth Krantz, MS; Sami L. Gottlieb, MD, MSPH; Amalia S. Magaret, PhD; Andria Langenberg, MD; Lawrence Stanberry, MD, PhD; Mary Kamb, MD, MPH; Anna Wald, MD, MPH. A Pooled Analysis of the Effect of Condoms in Preventing HSV-2 Acquisition. Arch Intern Med, 2009;169(13):1233-1240 [link]
Revision to the bible of psychiatry, DSM, could introduce new mental disorders
By Rob Stein Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, February 10, 2010; A01
Children who throw too many tantrums could be diagnosed with "temper dysregulation with dysphoria." Teenagers who are particularly eccentric might be candidates for treatment for "psychosis risk syndrome." Men who are just way too interested in sex face being labeled as suffering from "hypersexual disorder."
These are among dozens of proposals being unveiled Wednesday by the American Psychiatric Association in the first complete revision since 1994 of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or "DSM" -- the massive tome that has served as the bible for modern psychiatry for more than half a century.
The product of more than a decade of work by hundreds of experts, the proposed revisions are designed to bring the best scientific evidence to bear on psychiatric diagnoses and could have far-reaching implications, including determining who gets diagnosed as mentally ill, who should get powerful psychotropic drugs, and whether and how much insurance companies will pay for care.
"It not only determines how mental disorders are diagnosed, it can impact how people see themselves and how we see each other," said Alan Schatzberg, the association's president. "It influences how research is conducted as well as what is researched. . . . It affects legal matters, industry and government programs."
The proposals will be debated in an intense process over the next two years, with potentially billions of dollars at stake for pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, government health plans, doctors, researchers and patient advocacy groups.
But perhaps more important, the outcome will help shape which emotions, behaviors, thoughts and personality traits society considers part of the natural spectrum of the human persona and which are considered pathological, requiring treatment and possibly even criminal punishment.
Even before being made public, the proposed changes have been the subject of sometimes bitter debate over whether the process was based on solid scientific evidence and was adequately shielded from influence by the pharmaceutical industry, and whether some critics were driven by financial interests in maintaining the old diagnostic criteria.
Supporters argue that the revisions would make diagnoses more accurate, creating more useful and precise definitions and sometimes reducing the number of psychiatric labels. For example, "autistic disorder" and "Asperger's disorder" would be replaced with a new, single category called "autism spectrum disorders." Critics, however, fear the new diagnoses could unnecessarily stigmatize many people and lead to the unnecessary use of psychiatric medications that can sometimes produce serious side effects.
"By massively pathologizing people under these categories, you tend to put them on an automatic path to medication, even if they are experiencing normal distress," said Jerome C. Wakefield, a professor of social work and psychiatry at New York University.
After being posted on the Internet, which of the proposed changes become final will be determined by a public comment period that will last until April 20, studies to validate some of the changes, further review, and votes by the association's Board of Trustees and Assembly. A final version is expected to be released by May 2013.
"We're mindful of the concern that we don't want to overdiagnose," Schatzberg told reporters during a telephone briefing Tuesday. "We want to, in fact, get an accurate assessment of what the degree of psychopathology might be in the culture."
Among the concerns are proposals to create "risk syndromes" in the hopes that early diagnosis and treatment will stave off the full-blown conditions. For example, the proposals would create a "psychosis risk syndrome" for people who have mild symptoms found in psychotic disorders, such as "excessive suspicion, delusions and disorganized speech or behavior."
"There will be adolescents who are a little odd and have funny ideas, and this will label them as pre-psychotic," said Robert Spitzer, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the DSM revision process.
Similarly, a proposal to create a new condition for people at risk for dementia could cause unnecessary anxiety, treatment and other harms, critics said.
"These people will never get long-term-care insurance if they have that on their chart," said Michael B. First, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University.
William Carpenter of the University of Maryland, who chaired the working group that made the risk syndrome recommendation, acknowledged those concerns but said that experts decided that the potential benefits of early intervention warranted the move.
Others expressed concern about the proposals to create new conditions such as "temper dysregulation with dysphoria," or TDD. Supporters say it is intended to counter a huge increase in the number children being treated for bipolar disorder by creating a more specific diagnosis, though critics argued that it would only compound the problem of overtreatment.
"They are close to treating the children like guinea pigs. I think that's appalling and outrageous," said Christopher Lane, author of "Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness." "The APA should be moving to prevent such controversial practices, not encouraging them, as it is doing here."
In addition to classifying the symptoms of grief that many people experience after the death of a loved one as "depression," the proposals include adding "binge eating" and "gambling addiction" as bona fide psychiatric conditions; they also raise the possibility of making "Internet addiction" a future diagnosis. Some critics questioned the proposal to create a "hypersexual disorder."
"How many people with just healthy sex drives will be given that label?" First said.