It’s now well established that your ethnicity, class and wealth will impact any treatment you receive under a Western healthcare system.
But do you know about the gender healthcare gap?
Yes, that is correct - being a woman means that you are less likely to have your symptoms taken seriously; your pain treated appropriately and, perhaps worst - given an accurate diagnosis.
Why? Because devastatingly women's bodies, and the myriad of health conditions that affect them, are less likely to have been studied in clinical trials, making diagnosis and effective treatments extremely difficult. Because even medical products are based on male bodies and - in the case of the oral contraceptive pill - male hormones. Because our gynaecological anatomy has been largely defined by (and named after) men. Even the G spot. No wonder so few can find it!
Astonishingly, less than 2.5% of publicly funded research is pledged to research into reproductive health, completely disregarding the fact that one in three women in the UK will suffer from a gynaecological or reproductive health problemin their life time. Worse - there is five times more research into erectile dysfunction, which affects 19% of men, than into premenstrual syndrome, which affects 90% of women.
READ MORE: Are You At Risk From The Gender Health Gap?
I lost my mother to ovarian cancer when she was just 54 years old. Her local GP told her that her symptoms were 'very likely fibroids' - a textbook diagnosis for a woman moving through her menopause. Ovarian cancer is a silent killer, but I can’t help but wonder, if she’d been diagnosed earlier than Stage 4, I might have had more than the nine months I did, before she died in my arms.
September is Gynaecological Cancer Awareness month and therefore, to heal my grief, I am, as ever, on a mission to shine a light on the taboos and smash the stigma around all things Gynae!
How?The Happy Vagina podcast has spread its wings and launched a community platform where everyone fromI May Destroy You’s Ann Akin, plus size model Shareefa J to inspirational Tara Fitzgerald and the women in our online community are sharing their truths - from medicalisation to masturbation - on how they faced a gynaecological issue and used it to find a new level of confidence in their womanhood.
While nearly all of the heartfelt stories share moments where the tellers weren’t taken seriously regarding endometriosis or contraception, the overriding message is that, as women in 2020, we must now take full responsibility for our own health. In order to demand proper diagnosis and treatment - we must know our bodies.
'There's certain things now that I’m just not shy about and vaginas is one of them!' declare’s Sex Education’s Tanya Lou Reynolds
But how can we do this if we don’t know our own bodies rhythms?
Nell Hudson citing self pleasure as her number one self care moment is a breakthrough. An actress of her age and calibre just wouldn’t have been able to do that pre #MeToo. And, of course, as sex educator Alix Fox says in her episode of The Happy Vagina, 'The more people that masturbate and become aware of what’s normal for their bodies, the more likely they are to spot something is abnormal for them and potentially wrong.'
If you ever needed an excuse to get up close and personal with your vagina - now's your time.
Mika’s top 5 tips and tricks to help you take control of your gynae self esteem
- The Happy Vagina knows the difference between our vagina and our vulva - but do you? Getting to know your gynaecological anatomical names is the same as getting to know the male doctors’ names who named them. HA, shock!
- Take responsibility by getting to know your body’s rhythms and rhymes. How many times do we have to tell you?
- Know the symptoms and be the driving force in demanding thorough diagnosis and explanation for any concerns you have regarding your gynaecological health.
- Practice safe sex - the HPV virus can cause Cervical Cancer, alarmingly 8/10 of us will be infected with the virus at some point in our lives! Get tested and don’t miss your smear/PAP! Clinicians have seen all flaps and cracks, get over that smear fear!
- Masturbate, masturbate, masturbate!
Mika Simmons is a filmmaker, founder of the Lady Garden Foundation and The Happy Vagina.
Tune into Mika Simmons on The Happy Vagina podcast for more insights into sex, gynaecological, intimacy and relationships. And support the campaign and shop The Happy Vagina knickers.