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Why do you think there is so much
misinformation about women’s
health on the internet?
“The patriarchy. Weaponizing women’s bodies
is profitable. It’s profitable politically, it’s profit-
able for selling products, it’s profitable in page
clicks. Historically, women’s bodies have been
weaponized. We were commodities—how well
could we reproduce? What’s different now is
that I’m seeing women profit from misinforma-
tion for women as well.”In the 24 years you’ve been
practising, what have you noticed
has changed about how women
talk about their vaginas?
“Women are more willing to ask specific ques-
tions, so that’s great. But the other thing is that
women seem far more concerned about the size
of their labia. My whole career I’ve specializedin vulvar disorders, and in my first five years of
practice, I saw maybe two women who were
concerned about the size of their labia [after]
massive trauma during delivery. The drive to
have small labia—[correcting] the labia mi-
nora protruding beyond the labia majora, even
though that’s what it’s like for 50 percent of
women—is certainly something new.”What are some of the most enduring
myths you hear about vaginas?
“That vaginal discharge is abnormal and you
shouldn’t have any—that’s probably the big-
gest one. That a wet bathing suit causes a yeast
infection; that you should wear white cotton
underwear to prevent infections; that eating
sugar causes a yeast infection; that pineapple
can change the smell or taste of the vagina. I’m
taking that last myth down—I want it on my
tombstone that I stamped it out.” hINNER
WORKINGS
“The internet is failing women,” says obstetrician-gynecologist
Jen Gunter. The San Francisco-based Canadian MD has made a name
for herself trying to rectify this on her eponymous website, playing a
worldwide game of whack-a-mole with bogus health and wellness
claims—and, often, the products sold alongside them. Now she’s taking
her message offline (and away from the clickbait) with The Vagina Bible,
which she calls a “textbook” on women’s vaginal health. “I really believe
that a lot of medicine is not that complex; we just don’t make it available
to people,” she says. “Information is power. Get informed.”