Vulnerable Vulvas: Female Genital Integrity in Health and Dis-ease

Recently my research led me to this recommendation, from a 2004 overview of gynecological cancers: Because there is evidence of diagnostic delays, that is, women seek medical care in advanced stages of the disease, some authors recom-mend that women perform self-examination monthly and also that physicians be made aware of the features of [vulvar] disease.2 Like Nichols, these authors (Duarte-Franco and Franco) ask clini-cians to be more proactive in their vulvar surveillance: to promote more self-exams and to learn more about the diagnostic features of malignant abnormalities. [...]I am invested in a public and explicit conversation about what a normal vulva is and in delineating some of the cultural factors through which afflicted women find it difficult to identify and communicate various states of abnormality-what I am calling female genital dis-ease.