30 | New Scientist | 24 August 2019
FOR more than 10 years, Jennifer
Gunter has been fact-checking
claims about women’s bodies and
writing about it all – sometimes
humorously, at other times using
expletives. She has been called
Twitter’s resident gynaecologist
and her Twitter fans (she has
over 200,000 followers) describe
those she has admonished for
their ignorance as having
been “guntered”.
Now, she is poised to reach
out to many more when her book
The Vagina Bible is published this
month. The book offers scientific
information on everything from
reproductive health to vaginal
steaming. At a time when women’s
sexual health seems to have been
taken over by zealots and jade
egg sellers, the book is filled with
answers to questions that women
feel far too embarrassed to ask
their gynaecologists.
Gunter is also wielding her
“lasso of truth”, as she likes
to describe it, in a column for
The New York Times and in a
forthcoming TV show called
Jensplaining with Canada’s public
broadcaster CBC.
We caught up with Gunter and
asked her about her motivation,
what she really thinks about the
term pro-choice – and why there
is a big need for her book.What made you write The Vagina
Bible?
I wanted to give women a manual
for their sexual health. There isn’t
much accurate information out
there, from the mechanics of how
women enjoy sex to the medical
consequences of pubic hair
removal to why yeast infections
occur. The medical community
is hopelessly patriarchal. There
aren’t a lot of good studies, but
there is a lot of gossip.
Take the still commonly readThe Twitter gynaecologist
Jennifer Gunter has made it her mission to attack bad science and the ignorance
she believes bedevils women’s sexual health. Interview by Wendy Glauser1970 classic Our Bodies, Ourselves.
It was written by women trying to
do their best because doctors were
ignoring them, but it is full of
misinformation. Meanwhile,
companies sell products based
on false tropes about the vagina
being dirty or impure. If the vagina
is this filth-ridden space, how on
earth do we use it to reproduce?
Wouldn’t it just kill the sperm?In addition to dispelling myths,
you want women to feel
comfortable discussing sexual
health issues with their doctors.
How did your own experiences
as a gynaecologist and patient
inform the book?
My sons were born very
prematurely. One of my triplets
died at birth and my other two
sons were born with many
serious health concerns. Various
specialists would say: “It’s so easy
to get a history from you because
you’re a doctor and you know
what to say and the right words
to use.” I thought: “Why can’t
we open up the exam room
doors and share more of the
information we have as doctors?”
Much of the science isn’t that hard.
When I see patients who have
had access to quality information,
they get more out of their visit and
I can advance their care so much
faster. Whereas with someone who
has read snake oil and believes it,
I have to spend visit upon visit
forging a connection and undoing
that information. That is part of
my job and I’m happy to do any
part of my job, but I just got
obsessed with this idea: what if no
one ever fell down that rabbit hole?
I really believe we can bring
everybody up to this level where
they can make better decisions
about their health and advocate
for themselves better with
their doctors.Views Culture
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EV
INEYou’re an outspoken critic of
anti-abortion laws. What are
your biggest concerns with the
laws recently passed in places
like Alabama?
These lawmakers are playing
politics with women’s health.
I don’t believe the people that
write them care one way or
another, but claiming to have the
most restrictive abortion policy
obviously works for fundraising
and getting votes.
We know how to reduce
abortion, if that is your goal.
The contraceptive CHOICE study“ I’m pro-abortion
the same way I’m
pro-appendectomy. If
you need a procedure,
you need it”Book
The Vagina Bible: The vulva
and the vagina – separating
the myth from the medicine
Jennifer Gunter
Little, Brown