US scientists said Sunday there is strong evidence linking oral sex to cancer, and urged more study of how human papillomaviruses may be to blame for a rise in oral cancer among white men.
SINGAPORE : With all the recent attention-grabbing headlines on nudity and public displays of affection, it would seem that Singaporeans are becoming more open about sex.
However, this is not the case for some couples whom gynaecologist Dr Yong Tze Tein sees at her clinic.
A senior consultant at the Singapore General Hospital's department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Dr Yong has seen her fair share of married couples who have sexual dysfunction and problems consummating.
In the past two to three years, she has seen 12 such cases - a figure which represents only the tip of an iceberg, since most people are too embarrassed to come forward and admit their problem.
A majority of the couples Dr Yong sees are in their 30s and have been married for a few years. They end up being referred to her when they are unable to successfully conceive.
According to Dr Yong, the sexual dysfunction issues she has seen are varied. For instance, there was a female patient with an anatomical problem - her hymen was so thick that it was impossible for sexual penetration to occur - and surgery was required to fix that.
Sex - What's that?
Interestingly, Dr Yong also sees couples who are clueless about the "birds and the bees".
"We've seen couples who try to have sexual intercourse but do not succeed, so the women end up not having any actual penetration. They are either not very sure what to do or have misconceptions about how sex is like," said Dr Yong, who recommended that both husband and wife see her at the same time for treatment.
Occasionally, the problems are more deep-seated and require a multi-disciplinary approach, with the help of an urologist and psychologist.
Sexual dysfunction becomes a challenge to treat when there are psychological problems or if either spouse is not open to treatment.
Take Jessie and Mark (not their real names) for instance. They have been married for several years but have not consummated their marriage.
While Jessie was eager to get professional help, Mark was embarrassed and unwilling to open up about his sexual problems.
"You could sense the wife's frustration and the husband's avoidance towards the issue. He made excuses like how he found sex very ticklish. He was always absent during consultations. I told his wife it was not possible for me to treat them when one party is always not around. You need two willing people to make sex happen!" said Dr Yong.
Mark's reaction is not uncommon. According to Dr Yong, men find it harder to talk about their sexual problems.
Left untreated, sexual dysfunction can become a chronic issue, making it harder to treat. Dr Yong advised couples to seek help early if they encounter problems.
Touching Base
While it is impossible to say how much sex is healthy, Dr Yong recommended couples to "touch base" at least once a week.
"Who are we to say that it's not right for a married couple to not have sex? But making love demands some form of trust and shedding of inhibition. If there's no sex in a marriage, then the couple wouldn't have truly experienced that level of intimacy," she said.
Iloilo City (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - "No sex please, we're Filipinos" could just be the slogan the Department of Tourism is looking for to promote the country overseas. But then again, it may not work.
This after stakeholders on Boracay on Thursday (January 6) maintained that the popular island resort remained wholesome despite television footage showing two couples having sex on the beach and in the water on New Year's Day.
Loubelle Cann, president of Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI), a group of business owners on the island, said the couples seen on video taken by television network ABS-CBN on Jan. 1 "could have been carried away due to intoxication amid the revelry."
Family-oriented
"We do not encourage or even tolerate these acts in public. But this does not happen every day anywhere on the island. Boracay is a family-oriented destination," Cann told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.
"These are private acts and we would, of course, prefer that they remain as such," she added.
The clip showed one pair apparently having sex on the beach while the other was locked in a passionate kiss in the water, with the woman's bare breasts clearly showing above the waterline.
Agence France-Presse quoted ABS-CBN as saying it filmed the apparently Western couples at 2 a.m. on New Year's Day following a large beach party to usher in 2011.
Fr. Magloire Placer, Boracay parish priest, said sex in public was "unacceptable," not only to the religious sector, but also to the community.
Local sensibilities
"While we respect the culture of foreign tourists, we also would like to safeguard and protect local sensibilities and culture," Placer said in a separate phone interview.
Mayor John Yap of Malay town in Aklan province, which includes Boracay, told ABS-CBN the local government might impose a ban on sex on the beach.
"We're thinking of a 'no sex on the beach (rule)' so that other tourists would not be scandalized," Yap said.
He said the authorities were aware of sensitivities in the devoutly Roman Catholic nation.
"It's an isolated case and quite difficult to control, but if the police had seen them they would have been arrested for public scandal," he said.
But Malay councilor Rowen Aguirre, chair of the municipal council's committee on rules and ordinances, said he did not see any need for a local ordinance banning sex on the beach.
"This is already covered by our national laws governing public scandal and it is up to our law enforcers to implement," said Aguirre, a long-time resident of the island.
Boracay draws about 650,000 tourists a year, or about 22 percent of the country's total visitor traffic, according to tourism department data.
"No Sex Please, We're British" is a comedic play that ran for 10 years on London's West End and for only 16 days on Broadway in New York in the 1970s.
It tells what happened after the wife of an assistant bank manager ordered Scandinavian glassware by mail but received pornography instead.
The Department of Health (DOH) has lost a significant part of its budget intended for the purchase of condoms and other types of contraceptives for next year.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said lawmakers saw the motive behind the purported strategy to set aside budget for contraceptives to make up for the delay in the passage of a reproductive health (RH) law.
"Parang pinapaikutan kami, (They were taking us for a ride,)" he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
'Leveraging services'
Groups opposed to the RH bill are also critical of the supposed tactic to introduce a similar measure in local governments in the form of ordinances.
In reconciling the Senate's and House of Representatives' versions of the P1.645-trillion national budget, the bicameral conference committee agreed to cut P200 million from the DOH's P880-million allocation for "leveraging services" and purchase of contraceptives, according to Sotto.
The senator said the P200-million budget would now be spent on the maintenance and other operating expenses of state universities and colleges.
The remaining P680 million was allocated solely for "family health, responsible parenting and maternal care." Sotto said the new item meant that the DOH could not use it to buy condoms and other contraceptives.
"If they use it for contraceptives, we will question them next year. They would have a lot of explaining to do," he said.
Sotto said the new allocation would include prenatal care, immunization, information campaign to help curb maternal death and infant mortality, and other community-based health programs.
Preservation of life
"If you notice, this allocation is intended purely for the preservation of life," he said.
Going into the conference committee, senators drastically reduced the DOH's initial P880-million budget for contraceptives, leaving only P8 million to be used exclusively for condoms.
But even the P8-million allocation was lost during the deliberations.
Sotto, who was part of the bicam committee, said the DOH was again asked to explain where exactly it intended to spend P880 million. He said he presented the written explanation to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who suggested that all spending on contraceptives be stricken off the 2011 budget.
Sotto said the new proposal encountered no major difficulty with the House panel, which included Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, chief proponent of the RH bill.
"My thesis was strong--the bicam was not the venue for debates on the RH bill," he said.
