Vulva health conditions: it's time to shatter the silence

• I didn’t know I had a vulva until I was diagnosed with lichen sclerosus and stage three vulval cancer.
• She spoke of her anger at how, despite numerous doctor appointments, her cancer was not spotted until it was at an advanced stage.
• Baumhauer had had symptoms since the age of five, feeling burning pain “like razor blades” when going to the toilet.
• Despite undergoing 58 rounds of radiotherapy in 2016- 2017, Baumhauer experienced a recurrence in 2023 and had to have further surgery.

A disturbing silence

• There are accounts of women experiencing dyspareunia (pain during sex) in ancient Egyptian papyri.
• Yet today there is still an oppressive silence around the vulva and vulval disease.
• This article is part of Women’s Health Matters, a series about the health and wellbeing of women and girls around the world.
• So young women and those who menstruate grow up thinking gynaecological pain is just something to be accepted, even expected.
• Instead, we receive the message that we shouldn’t be surprised when we experience pain or itching, but we also shouldn’t talk about it.

Breaking the silence

• In the 1970s and 1980s, women began to break the silence and share their breast cancer experiences with the public.
• The disease claims tens of thousands of lives a year, but a silence surrounded it meaning many missed the early signs.
• And recently singer Meghan Trainor shared her experience of vaginismus, a condition causing the pelvic muscles to tense up painfully during sex.
• Visual, literary and performing arts can be powerful tools for breaking down stigma.