30 Wild Facts People Learned About The Female Body And Needed To Share

Bored Panda wanted to get the author's thoughts on what could be done to help people who struggle with topics such as basic biology, as well as how someone might go about learning more about reproduction if they feel embarrassed to ask questions. Redditor u/fushaman was happy to share their perspective.

"Part of me wonders if perhaps we need more 'practical' classes in schools. When I was at school we had PSHE [personal, social, health, and economic education], but to be honest it was pretty rubbish. It was a 'doss' lesson—one where you do nothing," they shared.

"I think schools should incorporate more practical life lessons: how to do taxes, how to cook basic healthy meals, and likely health problems that will affect them. For women, it should be a safe place to discuss the things that people never tell us about. For example, labia shrinking, HG [hyperemesis gravidarum]—the severe vomiting that can happen during pregnancy—or that 1/5 women have a tilted uterus, which can cause worrying pain/discomfort when anything gets inserted."

According to u/fushaman, there should be similar lessons "for guys, too, and intersex people, and trans people."

"But I do think the physical health concerns need to be raised in an impartial way to make sure people are aware of the potential problems they'll face. Forewarned is forearmed, after all."

We were also curious about what inspired u/fushaman to start the online discussion in the first place. "I was inspired by a post by another user who was venting about the TikTok ban," they said.

"She'd been using it to get information on women's reproductive health, knowledge that she was struggling to find elsewhere, and she was disappointed that her access was being halted. I figured, why not have a place here where everyone could see it and add to it?"

A major issue that continues to plague modern society is s*x inequality in medical research. Though there’s been some progress, it’s a problem that has massive impacts on female health on a global scale.

“Historically, medical studies have excluded female participants and research data have been collected from males and generalized to females. The gender gap in medical research, alongside overarching misogyny, results in real-life disadvantages for female patients,” one recent report notes.

The results? “Females remain broadly under-represented in the medical literature, s*x and gender are poorly reported and inadequately analyzed in research, and misogynistic perceptions continue to permeate the narrative.”

Dr. Hadine Joffe, executive director of the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Time magazine that there has been “major progress on s*x-informed research” within the past decade. However, “it’s a mixed story because there’s still such a long way to go.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Jecca Steinberg, from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, said that women are still under-represented in research. “Female representation isn’t proportionate to the burden of disease in many clinical trials,” she said.

There have been some bright spots in recent years, however. “I think the pharmaceutical industry is more cautious now to look in drug trials at the biological impact in males and females,” Dr. Marianne J. Legato, the founder and director of the Foundation for Gender Specific Medicine, said. According to her, between 1997 and 2000, 8 of the 10 d***s removed from the market had greater risks for women. Time notes that women experience adverse reactions to d***s nearly twice as frequently as men do.

What were your school biology, health, and reproduction lessons like back when you were students, dear Pandas? Do you think that you were taught enough or did you have to do your own research? What knowledge gaps do you feel you could do more to fill but might not have enough time? Let us know in the comments.