When we talk about the practice of oral sex, we tend to express it as an “giving” act, but it turns out that head donors may also be getting something out of the experience. Unfortunately, it is cancer.
Recent research at Johns Hopkins University found a link between the practice of oral sex and contracting the human papillomavirus, or HPV. The findings, published in the American Cancer Society’s CANCER journal, suggested that those with more oral sex partners were at greater risk of developing HPV-related mouth and throat cancer. Specifically, the research indicates that having oral sex on just 10 previous partners is linked to a 4.3 times greater risk of developing HPV-related cancer.
In addition to a greater number of previous partners, other risk factors identified by the researchers include the age of “sexual initiation”, the age of the partners and having more partners in a shorter period. Perhaps surprisingly, the study did not denote the gender composition of the participants, suggesting that, when it comes to oral sex and any applicable carcinogenic properties, this variable is of little importance.
According to the survey, the younger you were when you were “sexually initiated” (or in other words, you started having oral sex), the greater the risk of contracting HPV. Those who had oral sex with older partners were also at greater risk. Having oral sex of an extramarital nature was also considered a risk factor for HPV.
In addition, while many of us probably reached adulthood by following an unofficial sexual rules book that encouraged us to stop at each base before returning home, it seems that we would have been better off had we been “started” with a man run instead. The study notes that those who had oral sex before starting intercourse with penetration for the first time were also more likely to contract HPV. According to the researchers, the initial exposure to the virus through the genitals leads to a “robust immune response” that better protects the body against HPV when it is later introduced orally. But if you go straight to the mouth without giving your genitals a chance to trigger that immune response, you are practically alone.
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