Prostate cancer: Let’s talk about sex

In the UK, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. In 2018, 395,000 guys were either living with prostate cancer or had recovered from it.

That’s a lot of men.

Almost every kind of prostate cancer treatment can affect someone’s sexual function (your ability to have sex).

8 out of 10 guys diagnosed with prostate cancer told us they had problems with sex after their treatment. But over half said they hadn’t been offered any help with sexual problems, at all.

Left unaddressed, sexual problems can lead to pain, stress, anxiety, depression, anger and even shame. This doesn’t need to be the case.

Sexual wellbeing IS important

At Movember, we believe your sexual wellbeing is just as important as the rest of you.

Our True North website provides the straight-shooting information that men need to take charge of their sexual recovery.

It’s important for men and their partners to know that having these issues is normal. And that there are solutions. The first step is talking about it.

Conversations about sexual wellbeing between healthcare practitioners and their patients (and their partners) are key to getting things back on track in the bedroom.

So... what did we do about it?

Back in 2015, we brought together 37 sexual health experts from 14 countries to work on solutions for this problem.

Together, we came up with a blueprint for what the gold standard of care should look like.

The new clinical guidelines for sexual health care and prostate cancer are a set of 47 statements that help healthcare teams to assess and manage the sexual side effects of prostate cancer therapies.

The idea is that these statements will act as prompts to start conversations between healthcare teams, patients and their partners – and that will result in better care.

If more men are able to have conversations about the sexual challenges they are facing, it could transform their mental and physical health. And their relationships.

So, what are we saying? It’s simple. Let’s talk about sex. There’s no shame, just gain.