Sexualizing Cancer: HPV and the Politics of Cancer Prevention

The virus that changed how we think about cancer and its culprits—and 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 cancer’s viral cause, and girls and women became early consumers of this new cancer vaccine. An understanding of HPV’s broadening association...