Edit: I'm still learning terminology separating reproductive anatomy from gender so if anyone has suggestions on how I could improve please do let me know
Cw: discussion of medical proceedures around reproductive health including cervical biopsy)
I've always liked and respected Stoya. We're about the same age and I was learning a lot about sex, gender, women's lib, feminism, and medicine when she was just getting started. I've followed her career from alt-porn phenomena to elder sex educator and i've learned a great deal from her.
She's had some insightful posts on her substack about her ordeal with PCOS and endo, and all the medical fuckery and failure that surrounds women's reproductive and endocrine health. She's coming at it from the combination ovaries and a uterus side but her experiences are illustrative of the broader negligence and/or malice of medical indifference to the health of both women and of people with a womb and/or internal gonads.
Pcos and endo are kind of a personal crusade for me because they're common conditions that cause an immense amount of suffering for a huge number of people. Endo and pcos should be first priority topics for medical research. Effective treatment or cure would be a historic victory and alleviate untold suffering across the face of the world. Instead, at least in my experience, they're widely unknown conditions. Countless people with debilitating or even disabling periods are told to take motrin and endure the agony. It is, pardon my french, completely fucked.
And it ties directly in to other medical care problems: people are told to take a motrin for procedures which sample or pass through the cervix! That's not negligent, that's sadism! Local anesthetic should be the minimum for pain management with calming medications, additional painkillers, and general anesthesia as options. It makes me so angry that so many people are dismissively gaslit and then abandoned to suffer by medical professionals who are supposed to be helping them!
I can, and have, ranted about this for hours but i'ma stop now. Give Stoya's words a read she's a real smart lady with a lot of knowledge to share.___
once I learned what an IUD was and how they were inserted, I was pretty shocked that anyone ever gets them
people are told to take a motrin for procedures which sample or pass through the cervix! That's not negligent, that's sadism!
I had a colposcopy done for an abnormal pap in my early 20s and was instructed to take ibuprofen for it and wear a pad because there would likely be bleeding.
the doctor was kind enough to describe the procedure and show me the tools (speculum and a curette that resembled a tiiiiiny ice cream scoop) and turn the screen so I could watch the sample being collected, so I can say that I have actually seen my own cervix with my own eyes.
it was not a good time,
butand yet idk if the procedure was more painful than the surprise $750 bill from the pathologist that followedPcos and endo are kind of a personal crusade for me because they're common conditions that cause an immense amount of suffering for a huge number of people. Endo and pcos should be first priority topics for medical research. Effective treatment or cure would be a historic victory and alleviate untold suffering across the face of the world.
YES YES YES
Instead, at least in my experience, they're widely unknown conditions. Countless people with debilitating or even disabling periods are told to take motrin and endure the agony. It is, pardon my french, completely fucked.
couldn't agree more.
thank you for posting this ❤️
IUD insertion and removal is the absolute worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. That said, I love my Mirena so much I want to marry her. I am on my second one and will keep getting them until I’m through menopause.
The first go around, I just took NSAIDs beforehand and it was fucking brutal. Literal worst pain ever, could barely drive myself home, was lying in the fetal position in bed for 16 hours afterward regretting my choices. Had minor cramping a few days afterward and it took about 6 weeks for my periods to disappear forever. 10/10, never going back. But damn that one day sucked.
The second time, I requested a sedative and my NP is not a monster so she happily Rx’d 2mg of Ativan. I also took 1mg of Dilaudid my sister had left over from a past surgery AND 500mg ibuprofen. I had a friend drive me this time. Even with the benzo/opioid/NSAID combo I still screamed and cried in pain during and for 5 minutes after the procedure.
I love love love my IUD but we should be offered IV sedation at minimum.
American health care is so fucked. I broke my hand at the beginning of the year and just an xray and a splint ended up costing over $3000.
Needless to say I ain't paying them a dime of that.
Great post. This is a subject very close to my heart and was lucky enough to be able to take part in some uni courses on these things as well that completely opened my eyes to the problems in gynecology and in the ways medicine has treated people with uteruses.
I also have many personal experiences of this violence, including a badly inserted IUD that bled for a year.
Here is one blog post from a great activist also relating, cw would be medical violence.
There is absolutely a reason why I personally have skipped going for screenings. Love that this is being talked about here.
There is absolutely a reason why I personally have skipped going for screenings.
great point that I didn't mention. the horror and expense of mine was enough to keep me from doing follow-ups.
I always loved Stoya and wanted to be like her. It is so tragic finding out that most of the people you look up to were terribly abused. Fuck man.
Adding to this convo that thanks to this discussion here and being able to speak up about this stuff a bit, I have now reserved a pap screen for tomorrow morning and informed the person doing it that I have previous traumas from this stuff.
It's been years. To comrades here:
