Be Proud Of Your Pap!

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?

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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.