Abstract
Abstract The relationship between sex and cervical cancer has sometimes been used to position women who develop cervical cancer as promiscuous and, therefore, sexually bad. This article explores sexual discourses informing cervical cancer prevention policy. We contend that a good girl/bad girl discourse influenced the particular direction of policy development. This historically pervasive discourse positions women who have sex outside certain ‘acceptable’ heterosexual relationships as, at best, promiscuous, and, at worst, as ‘whores’. When this discourse is prominent, publicising the association between sexuality and cervical cancer may deter women from being screened. New Zealand’s cervical cancer prevention policy has therefore downplayed the relationship between sexual behaviour and cervical cancer. We question whether or not it is in women’s best interests for policy to submit to, rather than directly challenge, such sexist discourses. Unarticulated norms around heterosexual intercourse and heterosexuality were also found to inform cervical cancer prevention policy.
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