Students and strangers aren’t the only ones who ask me questions about sexual health though. My friends and family also have a great deal of curiosity. Recently, on a beautiful late summer evening, I joined a group of five or six girlfriends at a friend’s house. We were sitting in her living room, drinking wine and talking—and often laughing—about our lives, relationships, exes, and work, the way we women often do. At some point, we started talking about various health issues and the conversation wound its way to the nitty-gritty details of gynecological exams. There was a lot of uncertainty among this group of friends (a group of women in their late twenties to early forties) about Pap tests, pelvic exams, vaginal pain, itching, HPV vaccines, and what should be a part of a normal GYN exam. In my experience, most women—no matter how smart, well-educated, or inquisitive—haven’t been told much about gynecological health issues by their moms, teachers, or health care providers.
