Quote:
Originally Posted by Jinx123
I already acknowledged that gynecology has evolved in the past hundred years. I stated in a previous post that the experience should evolve to be like that of dental spas, so you cannot accuse me of being "anti-progressive."
Of course there are wonderful doctors who don't take advantage of their patients. I'm not denying that. But there is also a population of doctors who do not treat theur patients appropriately, and this cannot be ignored. Neither can the patient's personal perception of sexuality as religion and culture plays an enormous and diverse role in shaping this.
All I am doing is validating the women who have had bad experiences and offering them emotional support instead of condemnation.
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Is it possible for you to become an activist in the scope of women's health?
No one is condemning anything except the A*** that dare to call themselves doctors.
Cultural and religious roles in women's health are being addressed quite actively and in many arenas. What needs to also be addressed is the issue of separating those cultural and religious beliefs of sexuality from the mindset that somehow a pelvic exam is a sexual act. It's sad that that is what is happening. Regardless of whether it stems from mental health problems or how one was raised, simply validating another's feelings isn't enough. Women are dying and/or being exploited all over the world because no one "helped" or taught them this doesn't have to happen.
Did you know that women in parts of Africa that suffer aftereffects from childbirth that cause uterine wall rupture are being ostracized and disowned? The genital mutilation of young girls is widely reported on and activists are hard at work to stop this horrendous ritual, but very little is said about the women who, when giving birth, suffer a condition that tears the wall between the vagina, urethra and sometimes the rectum, causing bladder and/or rectal incontinence. The condition, called Obstetric Fistula, is almost unheard of in industrialized countries. These women are not treated for the condition, but rather tossed from their homes, disowned, their babies taken away. They can not have more children and no man, even their husbands, would want them.
It occurs because the women don't get basic ob/gyn care. Poverty as well as cultural leanings have everything to do with this.
Women like Dr. Catherine Hamlin aren't just writing books and offering support, they are doing an impossible task: treating these women. The surgery to correct Obstetric Fistula is simple most of the time.
But more has to done and that comes through education. Women need to be educated that a pelvic exam, obstetrics and gynecological medicine is NOT sexual, is NOT anti-religious or anti-cultural but life saving. And they have to know that they have the power over their well being, including getting quality medical care.