March 4th is Human Papillomavirus (HPV) International Awareness Day– by Joanna Palmieri, M.D.

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March 4th is Human Papillomavirus (HPV) International Awareness Day– by Joanna Palmieri, M.D.

 Let’s get our kids vaccinated and prevent HPV related cancers!

 There are quite a few reasons why and here are some very important HPV facts:

  • Absolutely every single human being is at risk of becoming infected with HPV. Studies show that 85% of people will get an HPV infection in their lifetime.

  • The prospect of a high-risk HPV infection progressing to cancer is about 10%, even though about half of HPV infections are from high-risk strains.

  • There are approximately 13 million Americans infected with HPV annually.

  • HPV is spread by close skin to skin contact or touching during vaginal, anal and oral sex.

  • A person can get HPV when their vulva, vagina, cervix, penis or anus is touching another person’s genitals, mouth or throat.

  • The virus is spread by the skin to skin contact itself, which means that the sharing of bodily fluids is not necessary for transmission.

  • This virus can also be spread when an infected person has no known or visible signs or symptoms of active HPV.

  • It is impossible to track the exact time of exposure to HPV, especially because a person can be infected with more than one strain at a time. 

  • Most people will clear a strain of HPV in about 2 years, but it is not known how long a person can pass a strain on to others within that 2-year time frame.

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We are Committed to Fighting Anti-Trans Disinformation

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We are Committed to Fighting Anti-Trans Disinformation

It’s a rough time to be transgender (trans) in the US. It’s not that it hasn’t been before, but these last few years have made it particularly difficult (especially if you live in a “red state,” and even more especially if you’re under 18). Trans rights, and queer rights in general, are under attack to an alarming degree. More than 500 bills targeting the rights of LGBTQIA+ people were introduced in 2023. And seeing the direction things have been going, there’s so much at stake for queer rights in 2024.


So much of this recent wave of trans panic stems from disinformation about trans and queer people.


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Book Review: Eliot Schrefer’s Queer Ducks (And Other Animals)

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by Sebastian Madonado, CSUN School of Public Health Intern

Eliot Schrefer’s Queer Ducks (And Other Animals) is a well written, fun and eye opening book that looks to explore sexuality and gender outside of the two sex binary in the natural and animal world. The majority of this book is conducted in a sort of an interview style, where the author interviews animals such as penguins, bottlenose dolphins and ducks, asking them questions pertaining to sexual expression and gender roles. Although the interviews often bring on a funny tone to them, they serve as smooth segues for the author to further explore the everyday lives of these creatures such as how they breed, who they chose to sexually engage with and behaviors they often exhibit. Finally, the author explains how the animals compare and differ from other creatures, including ourselves, while using anthropology, zoology, and sociology to lay out credible evidence to sustain these claims. Schrefer also takes it beyond this and uses history to look at key biological discoveries, different points in human time, how gender and sexual norms have changed with the times and the acceptance and or condemnation these changes have brought with them. Overall, what this book attempts to do is no easy task; it looks to identify gender and sexual expression in the diverse animal world while attempting to then explain these to the reader using current human definitions and ideas. But all in all, Schrefer’s message resonates loud and clear; queerness is in fact not something unnatural, as some may claim, rather queerness itself is woven into the very fabric of nature itself and the rich and diverse animal kingdom shows us this.