Someone else noted that I have spent years of my life on this. I have. But in the beginning, I gave up too easily because it was so hard for me to talk about vulvas and to face resistance and denial from medical leadership. I’ve only really been actively trying to communicate with OB/GYNs for 8 months.
I have tried contacting at least 200 OB/GYNs on Twitter and via email. I have contacted 20+ textbook authors. I have contacted countless OB/GYNs in leadership positions at ACOG, ABOG, and ACGME.
In my article, I quote a urologist who says vulvar anatomy is of “low interest to OB/GYNs.” In order to make it higher interest, I think female patients need to demand it. This is why I need to ask for claps and support. If you click on my article, you can read it and give me claps. I really think this will help.
I want to inspire doctors to want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. I think the more they become aware that I am educating patients, and the more I can get patients to believe me, the more inclined they will be to speak up. I need to inspire them to care more about patient safety and female sexual health than about politics or risk of offending colleagues.
For some reason even female OB/GYNs either deny or defend the omission. One said, “We already have to know so much so we shouldn’t have to know this too.” One said, “These nerves get to small and difficult to dissect as they enter the clitoris.” This is not true.
You’ve all heard about how the clitoral glans (the head - the part you can see) has many nerve endings. What this means is that the nerves leading up to it are quite large (at least - mm in diameter!). The descending body of the clitoris, which you can feel under the clitoral hood reaching from the glans up to the pubic bone, is 3.24 cm long on average, not including the glans. That means OB/GYN textbooks are leaving out 3 cm each of the two nerves that innervate the glans of the clitoris.
I personally had the innervation of my clitoris cut in a clitoral hood reduction performed without my consent during a labiaplasty - a minor procedure that was supposed to be safe in the hands of a very reputable OB/GYN surgeon. Consider also that one woman who contacted me had the dorsal nerves of her clitoris damaged in a repair she needed due to injuries sustained from sexual assault.
Vulvas can get injuries. There can be physical problems with the clitoris. In fact, it is possible that far more female sexual dysfunction is attributable to physical cause than we think. When “little is known” (which is in the intro of many a study of female sexual physiology), it is easy to dismiss nearly everything as in our heads. We are so emotional, after all (saracasm).
Thank you for the support.
baratheonpilled
dailybridgerton
titsay
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
