DIANE GLEIM LICENSED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST AASECT CERTIFIED SEX THERAPIST & SUPERVISOR
  • Home
  • Clients
  • Therapists
  • Events/Trainings
  • About
  • Media
  • Contact
  • Blog

Blog

Be Proud Of Your Pap!

7/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
This is from a Q&A pamphlet from a gynecologist’s office about what a patient can expect during a pap smear.  Oy, it makes my skin crawl.  Here’s why:

While I understand every ethical doctors’ motives are to help their patients and this pamphlet has been created to do just that, this is horribly offensive to someone who is sex-positive.  I don't doubt that some women do feel uncomfortable during this procedure and doctors try to ease their discomfort.  Yet this paragraph demonstrates that doctors are expecting their patients to be embarrassed and uncomfortable during the exam and test.  That's a dynamic the doctors are setting up even before the patient walks into the exam room -- and it tells me they've been trained to respond to it.  But I ask: what is there to be embarrassed about?  By getting a pap smear test, a woman (or a trans man) is doing something powerful: they are taking control of their health and getting tested for a potentially life-threatening disease (cervical cancer if you didn’t know).  This is something to be proud of!  It is empowerment and agency at its best.  Doctors help us take better care of ourselves.  Where’s the pamphlet from them that celebrates this notable act of courage?



And the part about what the patient can do to make it more pleasant is insulting and bordering on abusive ("distract yourself/don't be in your body and we'll finish soon"), not to mention patriarchal.  The real question to ask is: what can providers do to make it more pleasant for the patient?  They have the power and expertise in the doctor-patient relationship and the onus falls on them to ensure that the patient’s experience be a good one to the best of their ability.  They can start by not indirectly shaming women and trans men for simply having certain body parts.

This pamphlet represents institutionalized shaming on a much deeper level.  And as a mental health professional, here’s what I know about shame: it keeps us small and compliant.  Is that what doctors, and the medical field for that matter, want in their patients?  Eeek, I sure hope not.  I challenge every medical professional who is reading this to look more critically at their office’s written materials and see what can be
made more sex-positive, respectful, and sensitive of the patient's experience.  And I hope everyone who is due for their pap soon to go in asking their providers to support them in their bravery.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

      Subscribe to my newsletter!

    Subscribe
DIANE GLEIM  
LICENSED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST 
​​LIC #44429 / AASECT CERTIFIED SEX THERAPIST & SUPERVISOR 
​SONOMA COUNTY, CA
320 10th Street, Suite 302,
​Santa Rosa, California  95401
  • Home
  • Clients
  • Therapists
  • Events/Trainings
  • About
  • Media
  • Contact
  • Blog