When I first started looking up the information for this article I thought, “Okay, this is going to be a straightforward condition that makes sex painful for women but luckily there’s a cure.” What I wasn’t expecting was the rabbit hole of indifference toward the condition and the women who are experiencing it. But then again, should I be surprised that this understudied, underfunded ailment, only affects people with vaginas?
Before I get ahead of myself, let’s go into the basics. According to the Vulvar Pain Society, “Vulvodynia is the term used to describe the condition experienced by women who have the sensation of vulval burning and soreness in the absence of any obvious skin condition or infection.” Sounds pretty horrible right? Well, the experience that women who have this actually go through before they can find some sort of treatment is just as bad. According to several studies and personal accounts from people who’ve been diagnosed with vulvodynia or vestibulodynia (pain in the area where the vulva meets the vagina), the worst part of it is being constantly told that their pain was psychosomatic. In other words, their medical professionals claimed it was all in their heads. Some of these women were prescribed antidepressants for their “depressed vagina,” which is an incorrect term that has been perpetuated due to a character from Sex in the City being diagnosed with vulvodynia on the show.
Nobody is quite sure why this type of chronic pain in the most intimate area of a woman’s body occurs. Some doctors believe it has to do with nerve endings. But the truth is that there have yet to be more studies regarding whether that is a percentage or a main cause. Several women who searched for a cure for years have said they were diagnosed with vaginismus or even chlamydia. It’s also difficult for more research to be done when problems like this are not seen as a priority by the medical community and governmental agencies. Let’s consider for a moment how the United States’ Department of Defense spends approximately 84 million USD on erectile dysfunction medication per year. ED is considered a systematic public health concern. Yet why is chronic vulvar pain, which also causes sexual dysfunction, albeit female, not a public health concern?
When you read the stories of several women who, after years of pain and horrible side effects from medication that did nothing to help, were able to find a medical professional who actually listened to them, it’s pretty clear that there’s more going on here than mere medical knowledge. Why are these patients told that they’re making this up, exaggerating, or even just complaining over nothing? It’s terrifying to think that you might walk to your doctor’s office and they might send you away or give you a laundry list of prescriptions that won’t make things better but instead will only extend your pain.
Media representation does not help either. Since that 2001 episode of Sex and the City, because there hasn’t been another TV or Film character with this since, the term “depressed vagina” has continued to be one of the more common terms. Personally I don’t see how someone thought the term depressed should be used in a situation where the person is suffering from constant unbearable pain. Because some women actually do have this nonstop, regardless of their activities. Others will have it on and off, but definitely during sex. It can last from a couple of months to years. This affects relationships too, since couples become strained due to the difficulty of having intimacy.
While there are several physicians and researchers attempting to discover and understand the underlying problem or cause of vulvar pain, the fact that they are few and far between is also concerning. It means that women in marginalized communities, rural areas, and developing nations are far from ever finding a cure. The doctors who have been successful at treating patients are located in large cities in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. And even then women who might live in these urban areas, might not be able to afford an appointment, considering that health insurance does always cover this type of problem.
So, if we called it female sexual dysfunction would it get more funding and research? Unlikely. What first needs to change is the mindset that dismisses women being in pain or having discomfort during sex. Because the fact that many patients avoid medical professionals due to fear of being shamed, scolded, or ridiculed, is part of the problem. Until the healthcare gap between genders is actually closed, we will continue having this type of situations. If we believe that women should have control and autonomy over their own bodies, as well as be able to freely excise their sexuality, then we need to actually demand that everyone receives proper care from the medical community.
Images by Abdiel Ibarra
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