Vagina Dialogues: Challenging Stigmas around Menstruation, Menopause and Female Sexuality
Communication taboos surround many aspects of women\u2019s health and wellbeing, from menstruation to menopause to sexual pleasure. This presentation will briefly discuss the historical and socio-cultural roots of such stigmas before outlining the latest research on how these taboos come to negatively impact girls\u2019 and women\u2019s health. Dr Weckesser will focus on her qualitative research on endometriosis as a case study for how cultural codes of silence around menstruation play a part in the delayed diagnosis of the condition. She will also discuss her STEAM-funded project, \u2018The VQ: A Women\u2019s Health, Sex and Pleasure Pop Up,\u2019 which is an impact initiative that creates spaces and events for women to learn about, and purchase products related to, their (sexual) health. \nDr Annalise Weckesser is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Care and Health Related Research at Birmingham City University. She trained as a medical anthropologist at the University of Warwick and specialises in qualitative research on women\u2019s sexual and reproductive health.\nThis talk was held as part of the Qualitative Research Methods module which is part of the MSc in Evidence-based Health Care.