Sangone's #SmearItOn

Introducing Sangone's newest educational awareness campaign, #SmearItOn

#SmearItOn is a movement to make cervical health screening accessible, visible, and unstigmatized. Whether you choose a Pap smear in a clinic or an at-home HPV test, early detection of high-risk HPV strains can help prevent cervical cancer before it starts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 13 million people in the United States become infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) each year. This makes HPV the most common sexually transmitted infection in the country. Knowing your risk is power–testing is how we take control. We want to start a global conversation, for activists, for young people, because we have never had conversations about reproductive screening. These conversations stem from knowledge. Knowledge that we haven’t had the chance to explore.

HPV is about human contact, not just transmitted through sex, which happens to be a common misconception

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract. It can affect anyone with skin and mucous membranes, regardless of gender, relationship status, or sexual history. Here is what many people don’t realize:

— HPV is spread primarily through skin-to-skin contact, not just intercourse.— Intimate touching, genital contact without penetration, and hand-genital contact can all transmit the virus.— Oral sex and deep kissing can also spread certain strains.— You do not need multiple partners to be exposed. Even one partner is enough.— Many people carry HPV without symptoms for months or years and can unknowingly pass it on.

HPV is not a reflection of someone’s choices, but a reflection of how common and easily transmissible this virus is. Nearly 80 percent of people will have HPV at some point in their lives.

Most of the time, the body clears HPV naturally. But high-risk strains can remain undetected and silently cause precancerous changes. That is why regular screening matters — for everyone.

With #SmearIton, we are helping people understand that HPV is a universal health issue. It is not niche, rare, or shameful. And it does not need to be feared — it needs to be addressed.

This is not just a campaign. It is a call to take ownership of our health. Your body, your health, your screening.

We want our community to take pictures of them by taking anything around the house (yogurt, makeup, glitter, etc.) and "smearing it on" and telling us why they encourage others to test for reproductive disorders.

Bring it on, #SmearItOn