Can you imagine a world where saying the word vagina doesn’t immediately make people uncomfortable? A world where the word vagina is said at the same rate as hand or foot or elbow. Unfortunately, we live in a world where having a vagina can often be a source of shame or embarrassment when it leaks or bleeds. It can be deemed too big, too small, too hairy, not hairy enough. Unless it’s pushing out a baby, vaginas are rarely celebrated.
Even worse: After a year-long bout of continued bacterial vaginosis, it dawned on me how little is known about the common experiences humans with vaginas face. I dealt with medical misinformation and endless appointments that only led to more questions, not less pain. When your health is in question, your days and life disrupted, it becomes clear how necessary your wellbeing is.
This is true for all women. But especially so for Black women. We have been—and often continue to be—treated poorly by the medical community.If you look at the study of reproductive health, it has a troubled history in America. In 1876,was elected President of the American Medical Association. A venerated surgeon and researcher of his time, Dr.
, these and other enslaved women and girls who served as Dr. Sims’s medical aides and subjects are the true “mothers of gynecology” for their sacrifices made to the field. I’ll say some of their names here, because it’s important for us to remember them: Lavinia Boudurant, 13; Ann McRee, 16; Julia McDuffie, 20; and other women identified only as Delia, Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy.