Why do you dislike the term “women’s health?”

If you know me, you might know that I dislike the term “women’s health”. Why? It’s because it assumes that just because you have a vulva, you feel like a woman--whatever that even means. It’s exclusionary--the exact opposite of how I want to live, and what I want my pelvic physiotherapy to be.

Instead, I prefer to use terms that stick to the facts of biology. Like, “bowel health,” “penile health,” “uterine health.” Splitting those areas of medicine into the gendered baskets of “men’s health” or “women’s health” is something I just can’t do. Just because you have a penis, it doesn’t mean you identify as a man. Just because you have a uterus, it doesn’t mean you are a woman. To think that in 2020 is frankly archaic--and so, so alienating.

That’s why everyone is welcome at my clinic. Whatever your sex, whatever gender you were assigned at birth, and however you choose to identify now, or if you don’t want to identify at all. The only kind of health I’m interested in is the kind that’s inclusive, accepting and meets you exactly where you are.