The healthy vagina monologue
Awareness of reproductive health needs to start with women ourselves.
OCTOBER is breast cancer awareness month. Many campaigns will capitalise on this timeframe, bedeck everything from cupcakes to cars in pink and sell these items in the name of raising funds for charities that work with cancer survivors or to assist in funds for cancer research efforts.
Having had family members who are survivors of or have succumbed to breast cancer and the experience of my own cancer scare at the peak of my reproductive age, such causes for female-related cancers remain close to my heart.
Personally, the irony of those few months was that when I was waiting for the results of my diagnosis, I was at the same time completing my own PhD thesis on controlling the virus that causes cervical cancer.
I had appendicitis and the surgeons found cysts when operating on me that led to the need for a thorough check of my reproductive organs, due to my family history of female-related cancers.
Thankfully, the cysts are benign, and I only need to run a thorough medical check-up annually that includes testing my blood for a full cancer marker panel.
Conversations with my gynaecologist and former colleagues, both personal and professional, however expose a disturbing yet stereotypical trend on women and health.
Women tend to nurture and care for others more than caring for ourselves, often to very detrimental consequences.
Many of the women I have talked to mention that they do not perform monthly breast self-exams or go for annual pap smears. Worse, most take on the mantra that it is “better not to know.”
At a public lecture in Kota Kinabalu a few years ago, I asked the roomful of women how many of them go for annual pap smears. Most of the women in the room were not even aware that such medical check-ups are required annually.
On the other hand, during a friend’s thesis presentation, a male audience member had the gall to suggest that women should have breasts and reproductive organs removed once we have gone past our “use by date”, completely negating my friend’s and many others’ efforts to find the cure to breast cancer.
Needless to say, such a misogynistic view only highlights the very patriarchal world we live in despite the advancements in scientific and medical research.
While there are numerous efforts from the public health sector, awareness and care need to start with women ourselves.
Today, doing so is made easier with smartphone apps that chart our menstrual cycle, complete with a built-in calendar function to remind us to conduct breast self-examinations and to make the necessary annual appointment with our respective gynaecologists.
Women must use our collective sisterhood to remind each other about the importance of our health. After all, if we are not healthy, we will not be able to nurture or care for others.
With the outbreak of the Zika virus globally, women’s health is thrown into prominence yet again. The discourse on abortion however, seemed to disempower women from making choices.
Directives from most Ministries globally are in favour of abortion for Zika-positive cases.
Yet, how many of the women affected receive thorough medical checks and consultation, sufficient information on the risks, adequate psychological and counselling support when going through the process of choosing to terminate pregnancies, and are simply given the power to decide?
I would also like to highlight the fact that every time there are reports of baby dumping, the public’s reaction would often be to demonise the mothers.
Women, even young unwed mothers, are often subjected to moral policing and expected to submit to societal expectations rather than being given the tools to know their rights, especially their rights to health.
Young people of all genders should have access to comprehensive sex education. Emphasis should be given to sexual and reproductive health and rights, especially so for women, to decide on what our bodies are subjected to, including pregnancies.
Punitive measures have repeatedly been shown to not work. Change, while slow, needs to come from a society that is compassionate and focuses on educating and nurturing instead of pushing young mothers to radical decisions.
Abortion is legal in Malaysia in cases where the pregnancy could potentially harm the mother, child or both. The definition of harm in this context should be discussed and expanded to include psychological well-being, and such laws should be made with the interests of women’s health as the priority.
As clichéd as it sounds, empowerment begins at home. Parents should engage their children on puberty, consent, and respect for women, alongside the information on health.
The national HPV vaccination programme currently aimed at girls as young as thirteen years old should be the best tool to begin the discourse on sexual and reproductive health.
Young girls should also be empowered with the knowledge on how to conduct breast self-examination, why the HPV and rubella vaccinations are necessary and be allowed to have conversations on sex.
By empowering young girls, we are also empowering Malaysian women of the future.