By Tanya Samyak
On December 6, 2023, Sahiyo organized a webinar titled Pain, Stigma and Sexual Health: Healing through Storytelling in collaboration with TightLipped, a grassroots organization supporting and advocating for individuals who experience chronic vulvovaginal and pelvic pain. Panelists shared their personal stories, which touched on topics survivors of female genital cutting (FGC) also can relate to like healing through storytelling and sexual health issues.
The panelists included:
- Lakshmi Anantnaryan, who is an international women's rights activist and alumni of Sahiyo’s Voices to End FGM/C project
- Grace Culqui, a women’s health advocate and an intern at TightLipped
- Lomaris Diaz, a veterinary anesthesiologist and active member of TightLipped
Lakshmi, who has endometriosis, talked about how her inability to conceive a baby was the utmost concern for everybody around her and how much she was affected by societal beliefs that women’s bodies were only meant for reproduction and penetrative sex. In my opinion, this way of imagining the utility of women's bodies demonstrates society’s ignorance about women’s sexual health. Her story also helped me understand that those experiencing endometriosis not only deal with physical pain but also emotional pain and a sense of embarrassment because of these patriarchal notions about a woman's body.
I also listened to the panelists who have vulvovaginal conditions speak about how they internalized the stigma they faced. Grace shared how some women experience shame in their relationships and an inferiority complex due to their sexual health challenges. She described how she felt she had to prove to her partner she was worthy to be in a relationship due to shame around her condition. Her experience articulates for me that there is a lack of understanding or representation of the conditions women may experience in mainstream media.
Finally, Lomaris shared her experiences with healthcare professionals who didn’t understand her condition and further that there is a lack of information about chronic vulvovaginal conditions in the American gynecology curriculum. I understand now how this lack of education for healthcare providers can challenge someone with a vulvovaginal condition when they are seeking a healthcare provider who can properly diagnose their conditions and give conscientious support. These systemic issues can add to women's suffering, and I commend Sahiyo and TightLipped for fostering a healing space and community that promotes the sexual health of survivors of FGC and vulvovaginal conditions.