According to the American Cancer Society, cervical cancer is the second-most common form of the disease among women, with about 4,100 women dying each year. A diagnostic technique known as the Pap smear has proven a reliable way to detect the cancer in its early stages when treatment is still possible.
A new social media campaign has given Pap smears a new public profile. Yet a recent survey by **the Free Press** found that only 2 out of 10 New School students were familiar with the disease and only 1 out of 10 were familiar with the campaign.
“Vaginal cancer? I don’t think I know anyone who’s ever had it,” said a Junior at Eugene Lang, mistaking cervical cancer for “vaginal cancer”.
“I can’t imagine not being able to have sex or a uterus anymore,” a freshman at Parsons said, after responding ‘no’ to being familiar about the disease.
Similar confusion and lack of public awareness led Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, a UK-based cervical cancer charity, to launch the ‘#SmearForSmear’ campaign earlier this year. Since then, more than 8,000 women have joined the movement through Instagram, posting pictures of themselves with lipstick smeared across their lips. The idea is to bring further awareness, and raise money for cervical cancer research.
“#SmearForSmear allows you to remind people of the importance of smear tests by sharing your lipstick smear selfie and nominating your friends to do the same,” states the campaign’s website.
Despite the popular trend, only one out of ten female New School students interviewed by the **Free Press** knew about, or had seen, the #SmearForSmear hashtag, even though they all said they had Instagram accounts.
Furthermore, eight out of ten of the female New School students said they were uninformed of the seriousness of cervical cancer, or unfamiliar with the leading means of detecting it—the Pap smear, in which doctors take a sample of cells from the cervix and test them for abnormalities—if there seems to be symptoms the doctor will then test specifically for cancer cells through a process called colposcopy.
“[I was] not quite sure what the procedure does to the body after cells are taken,” said a freshman NS student. “The way it was described by a doctor was that they take a chunk of cells with a device. [I thought it wasn’t necessary because I’m] not active sexually with partners.”
Medical authorities are united in calling cervical cancer a serious threat. “In the U.S., there are approximately 12,000 new cases of invasive cervical cancer per year and approximately 4,000 deaths,” said Jayne Jordan, Director of Medical Services at The New School. “Globally, there are approximately 530, 000 new cases per year with a worldwide mortality of 52%.”
“I believe it is important for women to be screened for cervical cancer,” added Jordan. “Without widely available screening programs, the rates of invasive cervical cancer increase dramatically.”
In addition to screening, Jordan believes that vaccination is the most powerful tool we have to prevent cervical cancer.
Despite the importance of screening and vaccinations, only one of the ten students interviewed by the Free Press said they had been given information regarding Pap smears from The New School Health Center.
“I didn’t know anything about cervical cancer and I have been at The New School for almost a whole year,” said Yasmin Kaytmaz, a freshman at Parsons. Kaytmaz said she sought screening elsewhere after her friend told her about the severity of the disease.
According to Jordan, the New School does provide pap smears as a part of the normal gynecological care that is available to all students that have paid the Student Health Services fee.
Seven out of the ten female students the Free Press interviewed said yes to having ever received a pap smear test, and some of their expressed views and experiences seemed to be contrasting.
“[Pap smears] do sort of make me feel uncomfortable, only because I know the experience itself isn’t pleasant at all,” said Rachel Darmody, a senior at Parsons New School for Design, “However, it never stopped me from getting tested although it delayed the process a bit.”
Another student who had never been screened said “I have yet to be checked out by a professional ‘down there’, and something about it makes me feel a little nervous.”
According to Jordan, the whole Pap smear procedure is routine.
“When the individual is ready, she places her legs into stirrups, which are located at both sides of the examination table,” said Jordan. “The provider then uses a small duck-billed shaped device called a speculum, which is inserted briefly into the vagina to visualize the cervix. The provider then uses a swab on the outside and just on the inside of the cervix to obtain a sample of cells. The time it takes to obtain this sample is several seconds. It should not be painful, but occasionally there is brief discomfort.”
If you want to set up a screening appointment call The New School Health Center or visit the Health Center’s website.