"Starting in 2005, people in the US and Europe were inundated with media coverage announcing the between cervical cancer and the sexually transmitted virus HPV. Within a year, product ads promoted a vaccine targeting cancer's viral cause and girls and women were enrolled as early consumers of this new cancer vaccine. The knowledge of HPV's links to other cancers, notably anal and oral, soon followed, which identified new at-risk populations and ignited a variety of gendered and sexual issues related to cancer prevention. Sexualizing Cancer is the first book dedicated to the emergence and proliferation of the HPV vaccine. It shows how the late twentieth century scientific breakthrough that identified the human papilloma virus as having a causative role inthe onset of human cancer ignited sexual politics, struggles for inclusion, new risk identities, and, ultimately, a new regime of cancer prevention. Mamo reveals how gender and other equity arguments from within scientific, medical, and advocate communities shaped vaccine guidelines, clinical trial funding, research practices, and clinical programs, with consequences that reverberate today. This is a must-read history of medical expansion-from a "woman's disease" to a set of cancers that affect all genders-and of lingering sexualization, with specific gendered, racialized, and other contours along the way. Selling points: Reveals how cervical cancer became a highly visible cancer, while other HPV-related cancers were downplayed Makes clear how the placesand people that could most benefit from a vaccine were the one's farthest from receiving its benefits Up-to-date account drawing on interviews with scientists and clinicians, observation at professional meetings, and analysis of scientific literature andmedia"--
The virus that changed how we think about cancer and its culpritsand the vaccine that changed how we talk about sex and its risks.
Starting in 2005, people in the US and Europe were inundated with media coverage announcing the link between cervical cancer and the sexually transmitted virus HPV. Within a year, product ads promoted a vaccine targeting cancers viral cause, and girls and women became early consumers of this new cancer vaccine. An understanding of HPVs broadening association with other cancers led to the identification of new at-risk populationsnamely boys and menand ignited a plethora of gender and sexual issues related to cancer prevention.
Sexualizing Cancer is the first book dedicated to the emergence and proliferation of the HPV vaccine along with the medical capacity to screen for HPVcrucial landmarks in the cancer prevention arsenal based on a novel connection between sex and chronic disease. Interweaving accounts from the realms of biomedical science, public health, and social justice, Laura Mamo chronicles cervical cancers journey out of exam rooms and into public discourse. She shows how the late twentieth-century scientific breakthrough that identified the human papilloma virus as having a causative role in the onset of human cancer galvanized sexual politics, struggles for inclusion, new at-risk populations, and, ultimately, a new regime of cancer prevention. Mamo reveals how gender and other equity arguments from within scientific, medical, and advocate communities shaped vaccine guidelines, clinical trial funding, research practices, and clinical programs, with consequences that reverberate today. This is a must-read history of medical expansionfrom a womans disease to a set of cancers that affect all gendersand of lingering sexualization, with specific gendered, racialized, and other contours along the way.