Ina Park (1)

I picked up Strange Bedfellows by sex-positive STD/STI researcher Dr Ina Park purely out of curiosity after reading several enthusiastic reviews, and I’m happy to report that it is an informative, interesting, and often witty examination of the history, science and stigma related to sexually transmitted Infections and sexual health.

Though the subject of STIs is not of personal relevance to me, given I’ve been in a monogamous relationship for 31 years, I am the mother of four teens/young show more adults and thought I could be better informed on the topic to discuss it with them. Park presents her information in a clear and accessible manner, and I definitely feel I now have a more comprehensive understanding of STIs. I was interested to learn about the many issues related to the testing and treatment of herpes, the hazels of pubic hair removal, the complexities of public health tracing in relation to STIs, the dangers of douching, the effectiveness of PrEP in preventing HIV, and more besides. Peppered with personal anecdotes and commentary, Park’s sense of humour ensures the material isn’t dry, but she also writes with sensitivity and respect.

However, I can’t wholeheartedly embrace the author’s rallying cry to #StoptheSTIgma. When I was a teenager unprotected sex was a dangerous gamble - HIV/AIDS was a death sentence, HPV led to cancer, as did Hepatitis B. Even though today people receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS can expect to live a normal life span, HPV immunisation has reduced the risk of cervical cancer by 90%, and Hep B vaccinations in childhood have reduced the risk of developing liver cancer to around 5%, unprotected sex is still a serious health risk. While I’m all for promoting the awareness of, and destigmatising treatment for, STI’s, prevention is still better than a cure. Given the reported decline in condom use, and the rise in STIs, over the last 20 years or so, I’m concerned that what teens and young adults are ‘hearing’ is that STDs are treatable and as such ‘harmless’, and therefore condoms are superfluous (if the risk of unwanted pregnancy has been addressed in heterosexual sexual encounter, or by the use of PrEP to prevent HIV in a homosexual encounter).

Nevertheless, Strange Bedfellows is an educative and engaging read that I think would appeal to a range of audiences, from the idly curious to those working with, or raising, teens or young adults. show less

Folks, this is my first five-star review in ages and I put this book on my "wicked awesome women" virtual shelf for the author and her narrative voice, so you know this is gonna be a fun ride.

Ina ("like 'vagina'") Park is the best tour guide to the world of science specifics since Mary Roach. She clearly loves her field and has a fantastic sense of humor about it, mock-lamenting the potential extinction of pubic hair lice, wishing a mild HPV on her kids (and hey, woah, regular warts are show more caused by HPV?), quipping about the cozy and communal history of contact tracing, and declaiming her manifesto: "Have sex with [people/someone] you like." She shares her own personal stories--including that time she dressed up as a penis--those of her (anonymized) clients, and, perhaps best of all, those of her colleagues. Apparently you don't get into studying STIs without some pretty crazy life experiences on the way, which is probably why I ended up where I am. *Sigh.* Ah well, too late to regret my life choices...

Park also drops some bombshells. You thought the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was bad? Wait until you hear about the one the U.S. funded in Guatemala, which was so sketchy that the whole thing was pointedly forgotten despite the sunk costs. (And don't get me started on the archivist who had a chance to turn it up more than twenty years ago... I know budgets are tight, but if you're going to process a collection, the papers of the guy who ran the Tuskegee experiments would probably net you some grants. Heck, I'd volunteer to do it in my free time.)

Mostly, though, we're learning about real people interacting with other real people. Maybe that's something I ought to have expected in a book about sexually transmitted infections, but there's so much genuine care shared by the contemporary scientists and doctors for their subjects and patients, especially when the latter are also the former. At the same time, there are inevitably dark corners: sex and sexuality are such social things that they inevitably overlap with gender, class, race, socioeconomics... Everything is intersectional, even STIs and the study thereof.

The book does manage to avoid getting too deep into the dark for too long by assuming a relatively high baseline of knowledge: all the content is accessible for a trade audience, so don't worry about being shut out if it's been a couple decades since your last biology class (*sob*), but if you need a history of the AIDS crisis or a rundown on major social (in)justice issues in the U.S., you'll have to look elsewhere.

Perhaps the biggest irony is that almost an entire chapter is given over to sexual webs and...contact tracing. At the time that Park wrote this chapter, the concept of contact tracing probably would have been unfamiliar to many people. Thanks to COVID, most readers will probably pick up the basics quickly and move along to what makes contact tracing for STIs different, difficult, and occasionally amusing. Some of Park's colleagues' best stories show up here.

Anyway, if you like microhistory, medicine, science, sociology, and wonderfully narrated nonfiction, look no further. And heck, maybe suggest your local high school read this for health or biology classes!


P.S. You're getting away without a ton of quotes because I'm struggling with an ereader. Not sure if it's me, the tablet, or the file.

P.P.S. Insert standard disclaimer that my opinions are entirely my own, though I'm pretty pleased to have contributed to this book in my small way. show less

I liked it. It's a pop science book on STDs that is light and snappy throughout. It was an enjoyable read

What did I learn?
- Your network of sexual partners and their partners might as much bearing on STD risk than your number of partners or frequency of sex.
- The Australians have nearly wiped out HPV
- Americans were once good at contact tracing, but now we kind of suck. That seems confirmed by the COVID experience and I'm not sure that skill is improving.

It is a little light on useful show more knowledge.

I thought Park gave insufficient attention to the potential for PREP and the anti virals used to treat HIV to foster resistant mutations. She does discuss antibiotic resistant chlamydia and I would think that viruses could go the same way. Drug resistant HIV could throw us right back to the early 80s. show less