Required to shave to play

[highlander]

First off, I have never shaved or encouraged a partner to do so.

The whole practice of pubic shaving is pretty deeply rooted in Islamic culture. In that part of the world, the idea this has health benefits is "common sense"--like washing in the west. However, I couldn't find any really good studies on the topic. The wikipedia article on pubic shaving talks about evidence of health hazards-but no real studies to back up claims on either side of the shave/no shave issue.

[Trojan Defense]

I once had a girl insist that as a condition for asking her to get tested, I must shave, as to reduce the risk of her possibly getting crabs. Though personally, I'd be more concerned about the viral stds that you can not get rid of than I would be about something you can get rid of, like crabs. My guess is that by shaving, one may reduce their risk of public lice (aka crabs), while simultaneously increasing their risk from other stds that could travel through small cuts in the skin.

In any event, it would seem like such a poor risk reduction strategy, that it shouldn't matter if a person is shaved or not. I think a far better risk reduction strategy would be to require recent std test results, and if you still get crabs, just get treated for them. Its not like you can't get rid of the stuff.

[highlander]

A lot of traditional medicine has pretty deep roots. I'm personally puzzled in just why many Islamic countries have as low of rate of HIV as they appear to have. Circumcision(which is a practice of the Islamic religion) may play a major role. Genital shaving appears to be part of their mix.

I agree periodic and frequent testing of all partners in a pool would likely have better results-but the thing about the Islamic system is it is something that has been done on a large scale for a long time.

My personal position here:
I'm not going to criticize anything anyone wants to do for purposes of safety-if there is any reasonable chance it might work. People's safety needs are really personal. However, I want to same degree of respect.

I suspect your female friend thought STD testing was unnecessary and unlikely to help much-but she went along with you-and asked for something she wanted in return. That really isn't such a bad deal in the big scheme of things.

[SecretAsianMan]

Originally Posted by highlander

A lot of traditional medicine has pretty deep roots. I'm personally puzzled in just why many Islamic countries have as low of rate of HIV as they appear to have. Circumcision(which is a practice of the Islamic religion) may play a major role. Genital shaving appears to be part of their mix.

Umm... neither circumcision nor shaving of the genitals will in ANY way shape or form help prevent anyone from becoming infected with the HIV virus - nor will it help the spread of the disease.

[two4youinswva]

Originally Posted by SecretAsianMan

Umm... neither circumcision nor shaving of the genitals will in ANY way shape or form help prevent anyone from becoming infected with the HIV virus - nor will it help the spread of the disease.

Male Circumcision and Risk for HIV Transmission: Implications for the United States | Factsheets | CDC HIV/AIDS
"Several types of research have documented that male circumcision significantly reduces the risk of HIV acquisition by men during penile-vaginal sex."

[SecretAsianMan]

Originally Posted by two4youinswva

Male Circumcision and Risk for HIV Transmission: Implications for the United States | Factsheets | CDC HIV/AIDS
"Several types of research have documented that male circumcision significantly reduces the risk of HIV acquisition by men during penile-vaginal sex."

Ok... I can see where that could pose a slightly greater risk to HIV infection (in regards to circumcision)

So, how would shaving help??

[two4youinswva]

Originally Posted by SecretAsianMan

So, how would shaving help??

Highlander wasn't saying it would, it was just an observational statement.

Read his other post in this thread, at the top of the page (I believe), where he referenced a study that pointed towards the opposite.

[highlander]

Originally Posted by two4youinswva

Highlander wasn't saying it would, it was just an observational statement.

That's right. Right now, I think we are largely flying blind in this area. There is some anecdotal evidence suggesting shaving may contain spread of pubic lice(i.e. that study I cited). The evidence on circumcision and HIV is stronger. I'd love to see a good study on shaving and a range of STD's. I suspect it would have no inpact on anything but lice-but that is speculation on my part.

[slevin]

Originally Posted by two4youinswva

Male Circumcision and Risk for HIV Transmission: Implications for the United States | Factsheets | CDC HIV/AIDS
"Several types of research have documented that male circumcision significantly reduces the risk of HIV acquisition by men during penile-vaginal sex."

There are a growing number of studies that say exactly the opposite; like this one that notes circumcision as being one of the common factors amongst HIV infected women in Rwanda.

Risk factors associated with prevalent HIV-1 infec... [Int J Epidemiol. 1994] - PubMed result

Or this one that notes that circumcision doesn't help to reduce the chance of an HIV infected male transmitting it to their female partner:

Circumcision in HIV-infected men and its effect on HIV transmission to female partners in Rakai, Uganda: a randomised controlled trial : The Lancet

There are more and more that are determining circumcision doesn't reduce the chance of contracting HIV. From a purely practical perspective this makes sense as well. Consider that Africa has one of the largest percentage of circumcised men, but also one of the highest rates of HIV infection. The US has one of the highest rates of circumcised men (10th in the word) and has one of the highest rates of HIV infection amongst the developed world. It seems that you would expect those numbers to be quite different if circumcision actually helped as much as some research claims.

None of that takes into account the much more likely causes of HIV infection though: IV drug use and blood transfusions. At least the first study that I noted included those factors in their analysis though.

[highlander]

The studies I've seen on circumcision claim that it reduces the chance of a man getting HIV at 50% or so per coital act. The 1994 study was tricky, because it wasn't trying to do a head to head comparison. Being circumcised in Rwanda largely means being a Muslim-which is also accompanied with all kinds of other habits besides being circumcised.

As far as what is going on in Africa, the country has a very high rate of a variety of STD's that tend to facilitate HIV infection-as well has problems with parasites and malaria-and huge nutritional problems. I honestly don't think that circumcision and/or condoms really can do much in that kind of environment. I'd figure 50% risk reduction for circumcision and 80-90% for condoms. That just isn't enough when you are dealing with a population that is both very vulnerable and infectious

[Trojan Defense]

Originally Posted by highlander

That really isn't such a bad deal in the big scheme of things.

It was not a bad deal at all. I was a little put off by it at first since I had never shaven before, and thought it'd be weird not having any hair down there, but you eventually get past that, and even if you don't, its not like it can't grow back. Certainly not a bad deal in exchange for testing in any event.