Stop Women Dying of Embarrassment

Young girls are growing up ashamed of their anatomy. Grown women are denying themselves potentially life-saving medical attention. And wider society is repeatedly failing to address it — because vaginas are an ‘uncomfortable’ topic.

From puberty and periods through to sexual health and menopause: for centuries, a culture of silence and stigma has surrounded gynaecology. It’s a culture rooted in the  misogyny that pervades our history, and that continues to threaten our future. And it’s putting every woman’s life at risk.

Think about it. How can women be armed with the knowledge to detect important changes in their bodies – changes that could indicate cause for concern – if no one’s prepared to talk about them? Every day, 58 women in the UK are diagnosed with one of the five gynaecological cancers. 21 of these women – our mothers, daughters, sisters and wives – will die within 5 years. Yet, despite being the second biggest killer of women, only 1 in 7 women can name a single form of gynae cancer.

So why are these women-specific cancers so under-profiled? So under-funded? So under-researched? Breast cancer, testicular cancer, prostate cancer — we’re all familiar with these diseases. But too often, the first time a woman will learn about a gynae cancer is when she’s sitting in a doctor’s office being diagnosed with one.

Recent years have seen unprecedented progress in gender equality. But, as Consultant Gynaecologist Dr Christine Ekechi explains, ‘the field of medicine finds itself slow to reflect the progressive changes in wider society’. It’s a field slow to recognise the negative impact of a historically patriarchal system, which continues to have a negative bias against women within the health system.

The deep-rooted stigma we associate with our gynae health is causing women to ignore concerns, and the fear of embarrassment is leaving them suffering in silence. What’s more, the lack of awareness around these cancers is linked directly to a lack of funding. And so children will continue to lose mothers. Husbands will continue to lose wives. Unless we make a change.

The Eve Appeal is the only UK charity focused on the prevention and early diagnosis of all five gynaecological cancers: ovarian, womb, cervical, vulval and vaginal. Alongside this, we are leading campaigners for ending the culture of shame and stigma around gynaecological health once and for all.

Because no woman should die of embarrassment.