The year 2007 contained plenty of eye-opening news about sex, with juicy, never-before looked-at details about who is doing it and why. It also contained some rather frightening news about sex trends, pills and vaccines. And then there were a few of those "Did someone actually spend money to fund that study?!" kind of studies.
There were lots more stories in the world of sexual health and not-so-healthy sex than this list could fit, but here's a compendium of our favourites.
The 'Who knew?' file
Many of us were surprised to learn this past May that the human papillomavirus -- HPV, the virus that is blamed for almost all cases of cervical cancer -- can also be transmitted during oral sex. Researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that the virus is a key cause of a growing rate of oropharyngeal (throat) cancer.
The study found that participants who reported having oral sex -- fellatio or cunnilingus -- with six or more partners were at the highest risk of developing throat cancer -- 8.6 times more likely.
What isn't clear is whether getting the HPV vaccine will help prevent oral cancer as well as it appears to prevent cervical cancer.
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Also in the "who knew?" file, was a report in the NEJM in August that found that a lot more seniors have sex than likely any of us suspected.
The survey of more than 3,000 U.S. men and women found that more than a quarter of those up to age 85 reported having sex in the previous year.
The study did find that sex, and interest in it, fall off as people age. But the drop-off had a lot to do with a lack of a partner, especially for women. By the time they were 75 to 85, only 37 per cent of women had spouses (compared to 71 per cent of men).
The study also found that older people often have trouble with sex (such as erection and vaginal dryness problems) and that many hadn't talked to their doctor about it. But some must have gone to see their doctors because the survey also found that one out of seven men used Viagra or other substances to improve sex.
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The 'Duh! That's pretty obvious!' file
After exhaustively compiling for five years a list of the 237 reasons why people have sex, researchers came to the not-too-surprising conclusion that young men and women do the "horizontal hula" for pretty much the same reason: lust.
According to a peer-reviewed study in the August edition of Archives of Sexual Behavior, men and women share 20 of the top 25 reasons for having sex. While "expressing love" and "showing affection" were on the list for both men and women, they both took a back seat to the clear No. 1: "I was attracted to the person."
The authors noted that their study was conducted only among college students, when "hormones run rampant.'' They expect there would be marked differences if older groups of people were studied.
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Other stories this year that made us say "Well, duh!" included a study by Ontario researchers that found that men who spend a lot of time on the Internet are much more likely to click on sexually explicit spam, unsolicited email, and pop-ups advertising sex sites.
The results of the study "suggest that males were very receptive to receiving this kind of material," the authors said, and that women showed little interest in online sexual content.
The authors speculated that those who spend a lot of time online may become desensitized to the content of such spam over time and this, in turn, may make them curious enough to explore the sites further.
The study generated a good deal of response from CTV.ca readers with one reader named "Steve" wondering: "I would like to know how much public money was spent funding this study, whose conclusions are something any 14-year-old in puberty could have told you."
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The 'That's a bit scary' file
Two reports this summer from the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada contained both good news and bad about teen sex.
One study found that teen pregnancy and abortion rates in Canada are at their lowest in more than a decade, dropping from 49.2 pregnancies per 1,000 in 1994 to 32.1 in 2003. But another study found an increasing rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), that include chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, human papillomavirus (HPV) and HIV. The chlamydia rate, for example, rose from 1,095 infections per 100,000 in 1991 to 1,379 in 2002.
Experts speculate that serial monogamy may be to blame. SIEC research co-ordinator Alex McKay says younger teens take safe sex very seriously. It's when teens get older and involved in more serious relationships that condoms are replaced with birth-control pills. And Stephanie Sersli, manager executive services at Options for Sexual Health in Vancouver, noted that once teens use oral contraception, they fail to get regularly tested for STIs.
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Among other scary sex news this year was a warning in the Canadian Medical Association Journal from a group of Canadian public health professionals who insisted that the universal HPV vaccination program in Canada "is premature and could have unintended negative consequences."
They noted that there are many gaps in knowledge about the vaccine, including questions about how long the vaccine will be effective; whether a booster shot will be needed in later years; and questions about the effectiveness of the vaccine when given at the same time as other immunizations.
They noted that relatively few girls aged 9 to 15 years were enrolled in the clinical trials of the vaccine, even though that's the age group that will be the priority target population for vaccination.
The editorial opened up a debate that continued all year and likely will for some to come.
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And lastly among the scary sex health news this year were a number of recalls of so-called herbal remedies for erectile dysfunction and sexual enhancement.
Although the pills promised a blend of rare Asian ingredients, many actually contained unregulated versions of the very prescription medications they are supposed to replace.
The pills pose a serious danger to men on common heart and blood-pressure drugs called nitrates. Popping one of the pills could lead to a stroke, or even death because the combination of the nitrates and the pharmaceuticals can slow blood flow catastrophically.
Health Canada also released warnings about dozens of other so-called Chinese medicine herbal products for other ailments such as joint pain after the pills were found to contain undeclared prescription-strength medication.
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