In the early 1990s, at the New York Harmony Theater, Annie Sprinkle presented her most famous performance, A Public Cervix Announcement, during which she invited the public to observe her cervix. This performance promoted a feminist re-appropriation of the female genitals and the subversion of andro- and heterocentred codes of pornographic imagery. It is often seen as an extension of pro-sex feminism and as a cornerstone of post-porn. This article aims to show how the images of sexuality staged (...) in this performance, in the wake of pro-sex and post-porn approaches, sought to elaborate new ways of showing minorized bodies and sexualities. (shrink)

Spermatozoa reach the fallopian tube during ovulation by traveling through the female reproductive tract mucus. This non‐Newtonian viscoelastic medium facilitates spermatozoon movement to accomplish fertilization or, in some cases, blocks spermatozoon movement, leading to infertility. While rheological properties are known to affect spermatozoon motility with in vitro models using synthetic polymers, their precise effects in vivo are understudied. This paper reviews the rheological measurements of reproductive tract mucus during ovulation in humans and model animals, focusing on viscosity and its potential (...) effect on spermatozoa. Mucus viscosity in the female reproductive tract's different compartments is poorly understood. While information on this subject is incomplete, most mammals appear to have a viscosity decrease along their female reproductive tracts. Based on this sparse information, we hypothesize that viscosity changes in female reproductive tracts may guide spermatozoa to eggs, a novel concept that could improve our understanding of reproductive biology. (shrink)

SummaryIn 1968, a prospective study was started in collaboration with the Family Planning Association to try to provide a balanced view of the beneficial and harmful effects of different methods of contraception. This investigation is now in progress at seventeen clinics and over 17,000 women are under observation. At the time of recruitment, all these women were married white British subjects, aged 25–39 years, who voluntarily agreed to participate. Fifty-six per cent were using oral contraceptives, 25% were using a diaphragm (...) and 19% were using an intrauterine device. During follow-up each woman is questioned at return visits to the clinic and a record of pregnancies and their outcome, hospital referrals, changes in contraceptive methods and the results of cervical smears, is accumulated. Women who default are sent a postal questionnaire and, if this is not returned, are telephoned or visited in their homes to collect the necessary information.So far, data obtained during 56,000 woman-years of observation are available for analysis. Follow-up has been maintained with an annual lapse rate of about 0.3%due to withdrawal of co-operation or loss of contact; adherence to the method of contraception in use at recruitment has been reasonably good, and the reporting of pregnancies and hospital admissions appears to have been both reliable and unbiased.The present data include only 24 deaths, so the mortality associated with different contraceptive methods cannot yet be estimated. With regard to morbidity, however, our preliminary results closely resemble those obtained in the prospective study carried out by the Royal College of General Practitioners and in the principal retrospective studies carried out in Britain and the United States. Women who used oral contraceptives at the start of the study experienced adeficiencyof hospital referrals for cancer, benign lesions of the breast, menstrual disorders other than amenorrhoea, duodenal ulcer, and retention cysts of the ovary; they showed anexcessof referrals for cerebrovascular disease, cervical erosion, skin disorders, self-poisoning, migraine, venous thrombosis and embolism, hayfever, gallbladder disease, amenorrhoea, and sterility. Women who used a diaphragm showed adeficiencyof hospital referrals for carcinoma-in-situ and dysplastic lesions of the cervix uteri and accidental injury; and anexcessof referrals for haemorrhoids and cystitis. Women who used an IUD experienced anexcessof hospital referrals for anaemia, varicose veins and salpingitis. About half of these differences were predicted from other studies while some suggestive evidence already existed for a further five. Of the remaining six, some probably reflect the influence of selective factors or chance.Multiple pregnancies, stillbirths, malformations, the sex ratio and birthweight showed no consistent relationship to method of contraception. The outcome of unplanned pregnancies occurring in women using an IUD, however, was remarkably unfavourable both in terms of ectopic gestation and miscarriage.Clear evidence was found of impairment of fertility after discontinuation of oral contraceptives. Whether this is likely to lead to permanent sterility in some women is uncertain.The study has provided data on the efficacy of a wide variety of contraceptive methods. In general the failure rates are in keeping with those obtained in other large-scale studies, save that those for the diaphragm and the sheath are much lower than those usually quoted.The available evidence does not yet allow a final balance to be struck between the benefits and risks associated with the new methods of contraception that have become widely used during the last two decades. It seems clear, however, that there are no material risks associated with the use of the diaphragm apart from the risk of pregnancy and that there may be some unintended benefits. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Secret Inside MeDiana GarciaGrowing up, our Chicano household was loud and boisterous. There were eight of us in one small house with one small bathroom. All five of us girls shared one bedroom so there was not much privacy, if any. Watching my sisters go through their puberty was isolating—I was never on the receiving end of the secret whispers and knowing looks I saw my mother exchange (...) with my sisters when they started menstruating. It made me feel “different” and excluded from that mother–daughter connection. My only comfort was that my sister, who was one year younger, had not started her period either, and we shared our fears that we were different from our other sisters.In 1979, when I was a senior in high school, I approached my mother and assertively told her that I had made the decision to seek out a doctor as soon as I turned eighteen years old because I felt I needed to get answers for myself and my sister. I was positive that something was not right. From the time I was about twelve years old, I would question my mom about why I hadn’t started my period. She always shooed me away saying that I was a late bloomer and that every girl starts at different ages, some at nine, some at fourteen years old. However, I always knew something was not right. I just knew.My mother was annoyed, but she said, “Alright mija, I’ve just been worried because you are a virgin and I don’t think I want anyone probing you down there.”I remember telling her something like, “Mom, at this point, if that is what needs to happen for me to find out, then so be it. But can you come with me to the doctor? Please?” [End Page 92]She said, “I know; I’m worried, too and yes, I’ll go with you.” My mom and I hugged, and I could feel the worry and tension in our hug. I was not sure if it was coming from me or her.The day of my gynecology appointment finally came. I had been looking forward to it for so long. This was my first experience as an adult other than having that grownup feeling the day I graduated from high school. The nurse told me to undress and to put on the paper gown and then left the room. I told my mother to stay sitting in her chair, that I did not want her to leave me for a second. The young doctor entered the room and introduced himself to us and asked me to sit on the examining table as he asked, “So, what is the reason for this visit?” I told him, “I want to know why I haven’t started my period. I feel like something is very wrong with me.”He had me lay back and put my feet in the stirrups, instructing me to relax. I reached my hand out to my mother and she stood and came by my side and held my hand tightly.He squeezed some gel on his gloved hand and again asked me to relax and to just let my knees drop back. His fingers with the cold gel probed and after a few seconds of probing he looked up and said,“What the heck?! There’s no cervix?”My mother and I looked at each other in confusion and then he said, “There’s nothing!”He then stood up and said, “Please get dressed and the nurse will show you to my office.” He exited the room, leaving us to look at each other with tears in our eyes, stunned at his outbursts.I will never forget his reaction or his words.A sympathetic nurse led us into the doctor’s office and we sat down.He looked at me and said, “You need to have surgery immediately or you will die of cancer.”I turned to look at my mother and we both started tearing up. I asked, “Why? What do you mean? I have cancer?”He said, “No you don’t. Not right now... (shrink)

The Papanicolaou (Pap) smear, also called the Pap test, cyto test, cervical smear or cervical cytology, has been described as the most widely used and established cancer-screening technology in the world. It has also been described as a very simple technology including a brush, a microscope slide, fi xative and cervical cells from women. In 1928, George N. Papanicolaou, a Medical Doctor, investigator, PhD in zoology and Aureli Babes (1928/1967), a Romanian pathologist, each independently claimed to have found a ‘very (...) simple’ technique, which provided a new possibility for early diagnostics of cancer/malignant tumours in the female genital tract/uterine cervix. The technique was subsequently named after Papanicolaou who, according to Wied (1964: 174), was more successful than Babes in ‘stimulating the introduction of mass screening projects which are the actual benefi t of the method’. (shrink)

La infección por el virus del papiloma humano (VPH) constituye la causa necesaria, aunque no suficiente, de la enfermedad de transmisión sexual más frecuente en el mundo, responsable del 4,5 % de todos los cánceres en ambos sexos. La vacunación frente al VPH, con niveles de eficacia y seguridad similares en ambos sexos, está dirigida básicamente a mujeres, para reducir la incidencia de infección y sus consecuencias, como el cáncer de cérvix. La transmisibilidad del virus en ambos sexos y la (...) inmunidad colectiva que proporciona la vacunación universal hace que su extensión al sexo masculino constituya una cuestión no solo de salud pública, sino también un dilema bioético relacionado con la protección de la salud y la equitativa distribución de los recursos. Este trabajo aborda el análisis bioético de la extensión de la vacunación contra VPH a ambos sexos. (shrink)

In Medical Sexism: Contraception Access, Reproductive Medicine, and Health Care, Jill B. Delston uses a feminist lens to examine the overwhelmingly common gynecological practice of declining to write prescriptions for oral contraceptives unless a woman agrees to an annual Pap smear, which is used to detect precancerous changes, as well as cancer of the cervix. Employing a comprehensive evaluation of the medical literature, Delston methodically builds a strong argument that these measures not only do not follow evidence-based medical guidelines, (...) but they also carry a significant potential of harm to the patient. Furthermore, cervical cancer prevention has absolutely nothing to do with... (shrink)

Public health aims to provide universal safety and progressive opportunities to populations to realise their highest level of health through prevention of disease, its progression or transmission. Screening asymptomatic individuals to detect early unapparent conditions is an important public health intervention strategy. It may be designed to be compulsory or voluntary depending on the epidemiological characteristics of the disease. Integrated screening, including for both syphilis and cancer of the cervix, is a core component of the national reproductive health program (...) in Kenya. Screening for syphilis is compulsory while it is voluntary for cervical cancer. Participants’ perspectives of either form of screening approach provide the necessary contextual information that clarifies mundane community concerns. (shrink)

The case, which occurred in a public hospital in Turkey in 2005, exhibits a striking dilemma between a mother’s and her fetus’ interests. For a number of reasons, the mother refused to cooperate with the midwives and obstetrician in the process of giving birth, and wanted to leave the hospital. The care providers evaluated the case as a matter of maternal autonomy and asked the mother to give her consent to be discharged from the hospital, which she did despite the (...) fact that her cervix was fully open. She left the hospital and gave birth shortly thereafter. Subsequently, the baby died two days later. In light of the contemporary ethical principles, the mother’s competency could be debatable due to the physical and psychological conditions the mother confronted. Furthermore, protection of the fetus’ life should have been taken into account by the caregivers when making a decision concerning discharging of the mother. (shrink)

A number of recent articles attribute the origin of the use of cervical balloon dilation in the induction of labor to either Barnes in the 1860s or Embrey and Mollison in the 1960s. This review examines the historical record and reveals that, based on current practice attribution should rather be made to two contemporaries of Barnes: the Storer and Mattei. More importantly, Storer’s warning about the rubber used in dilators was ignored, leading to decades of possibly unnecessary deaths following childbirth. (...) To conduct this study key search terms for PubMed, Google Scholar and the website of the University of Ryerson were utilized as “Barnes”, “Woodman”, “balloon dilation”, “balloon catheter”, “foley”, “colpeurynter”, “cervix uteri” and “induction.” Subsequent analysis was done on downloaded articles using BibDesk. (shrink)

BackgroundThe nature of a woman’s orgasm has been a source of scientific, political, and cultural debate for over a century. Since the Victorian era, the pendulum has swung from the vagina to the clitoris, and to some extent back again, with the current debate stuck over whether internal sensory structures exist in the vagina that could account for orgasms based largely on their stimulation, or whether stimulation of the external glans clitoris is always necessary for orgasm.MethodWe review the history of (...) the clitoral versus vaginal orgasm debate as it has evolved with conflicting ideas and data from psychiatry and psychoanalysis, epidemiology, evolutionary theory, feminist political theory, physiology, and finally neuroscience.ResultsA new synthesis is presented that acknowledges the enormous potential women have to experience orgasms from one or more sources of sensory input, including the external clitoral glans, internal region around the “G-spot” that corresponds to the internal clitoral bulbs, the c... (shrink)