Many accounts of the medical experiences shared by women on this site and others do not paint a pretty picture. Some accounts are about sexual abuse by doctors and other health care providers. Some are about being bullied into unwanted vaginal exams and screening, often at the dismissal of more pressing health issues. Other accounts are about the pain and suffering as a result of gynecological interventions.
A poll on this site asking women about their experiences with doctors indicates that 80% of women have stopped going to doctors due to the coercion they face to undergo pap tests. A whopping 89% of women indicate that they undergo coercion to undergo unwanted intimate exams when they visit the doctor. Where is the “health” or the “care” in the reality of these women’s experiences? And still women’s voices and choices appear to go unheeded.
The pelvic exam is particularly questionable. The American College of Physicians (ACP) published a landmark systematic review in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluding that routine pelvic exams provide no benefit for asymptomatic, non-pregnant women.
The study and the ensuing debate highlight three key issues:
- Unmonitored Harms: Routine exams frequently lead to false positives, which trigger a cascade of unnecessary, invasive surgeries that the medical system fails to track or monitor.
- Vested Interests: Organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) pushed back, defending the traditional practice based on “expert opinion” rather than clinical evidence.
- Silenced Voices: The heated debate largely focused on physician habits and institutional protocols, completely excluding women’s experiences, comfort, and right to informed consent.
The study: “recommends against performing screening pelvic examination in asymptomatic, nonpregnant, adult women (strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence)”.
Critics and patient advocates have noted that this debate largely took place over the heads of patients. The medical community focused heavily on clinician habits, financial reimbursement structures, and traditional protocols, while women’s lived experiences of pain, anxiety, and the lack of informed consent regarding the actual utility of the exam were effectively sidelined
Media coverage and women’s personal shared experiences continue to reveal a disturbing reality where women are being dehumanized, victimized, harmed and exploited. When you strip away the context of so called health care and look at what is happening to many women you are left with coercion, bullying, abuse, and other disturbing outcomes.
Where is the “health” or the “care” in any of this?
Great new post! They started doing internal exams on me in my teens and by the time I was even ready to have an intimate relationship it was no longer an option due to the abuse I suffered at their hands. I still don’t know exactly how many I had (dozens?) or how many people’s hands were in my body. It was a complete violation of my body and life. It wasn’t until I found this site that I learned what they were telling me was wrong, that it was mandatory and that I would be in poor standing with the practice. I was in my mid 20s before I had a framework to understand what had happened to me. Before that it was a blur of these extremely invasive exams, coercion, being confused, and blaming myself for being so “difficult.”