gynecology

Pelvic Exams: A Modern Guide

Physical therapist Caitlyn Tivy talks pelvic exams in the current era: what they are, why you might need one, and how to make them a comfortable and positive experience, including modifications that can be made with them that you might want or need.

Sexuality in Color: The Foundations of Gynecology

We explore the dark history of the foundations of surgical gynecology and its "father", J. Marion Sims, inventor of the vaginal speculum, who performed experiments on enslaved women without anaesthesia in the mid-1800's, and learn about the ways in which the legacy of racism and sexualization towards black folks has persisted and developed to have a measurable effect on health outcomes.

Vulvodynia Awareness -- Too Little, Too Late

The National Institutes of Health has recently launched a Vulvodynia awareness campaign aimed at advocacy groups, health care providers and research organizations. It's better late than never -- as is, women must see an average of 4-5 health-care providers before they receive an actual diagnosis due the ignorance of the condition in the medical field. A good majority of gynecologists, who specialize in women's health, often misdiagnose or shrug off the condition, as do the dermatologists, psychologists, and sex therapists patients are referred to out of desperation.

Too Young for Sexual Pain?

I Googled the hell out of my problem until I came upon a curious condition called vulvodynia -- or more specifically, vulvar vestibulitis syndrome. Something clicked, the symptoms there... that was me, those stories were me! I brushed it off again as my mind being overactive and diagnosing myself with something that didn't exist – isn't that what hypochondriacs do, cruise the Web looking for obscure problems with big names for every little symptom?