Marlow Blog

Roughly 2 in every 1000 individuals with a vagina have vaginismus, but what is vaginismus? What causes it? How do I treat it? Can vaginismus go away on its own? This week, we interviewed Michelle Fraser, a pelvic health physiotherapist and Hannah Kilarski, a student diagnosed with vaginismus to find out.

For some menstruators, period pain goes far beyond uncomfortable cramping. A possible solution? Menstrual leave. However, in practice, will this actually improve the quality of life of menstruators? Or only further add to the judgement and scrutiny around menstruation?

Some individuals experience painful periods and the last thing on their mind is being sexual. Others feel an increase in arousal. Both are normal! With that being said, can you participate in sexual activities while on your period? YES! Period sex shouldn’t be taboo. You do you!

Picture this… it’s been a long week and you’re feeling a little under the weather. In an attempt to resolve your issue, you decide to take a trip to the doctor’s office. Upon your arrival, the doctor takes one look at your chart and swiftly gives you a diagnosis: Hysteria. Your treatment? A vibrator-induced orgasm.

While consuming and making pornography can be a positive experience for some viewers and artists, the porn industry itself is filled with misogyny, racism, sexism, sexual exploitation, sex-trafficking, and much more, all to generate profits.

Feminist-themed ads – aka “femvertising” – link consumption to social causes for corporate profit. If consumers are buying products as a ticket to a social movement, is it still reasonable to consider this social activism?

Did you know that the vagina is a self-cleaning organ? Through the use of discharge, the vagina can clean itself of certain bacteria to keep everything in line. But, sometimes things go astray. Itching, burning and heavy discharge are all common signs that there is an overgrowth of the Candida fungi leading to Candidiasis - AKA a vaginal yeast infection.

To become a sex-positive society, we must embrace being sexually educated. Understanding how our bodies work and what constitutes normal is essential to living a healthy sexual life. If there is one thing to understand about the female genitalia it is that everyone’s is different, and that’s alright.

Depictions of menstruation in film and TV history have rarely been positive or accurate representations of authentic experiences. It's time to expose past period-related content for what it is - a bloody mess - and draw attention to a few other contemporary examples that are doing it right.

Racism has permeated our society and institutions not only within the US, but in Canada and the rest of the world. Racism in healthcare is a particularly pressing matter - with bias existing in research, in medical professionals’ perceptions, and in the policies in healthcare systems. 

Medical research has a gender bias problem; women are often excluded from participation in clinical trials, are systematically under-treated for pain in hospital settings, and for heart attacks have double the risk of dying. In this week's blog, we discuss how this has led to a need for feminist based medicine.