Gynecological examinations can be quite unpleasant. And when you’re going through fertility treatment, you face a lot of these examinations… On this episode of the podcast, I interview Sara Tancman, who recently conducted a large study on how women experience their examinations and how they would like to see them improved. We discuss the results of her study and focus in more detail on what you could do yourself to improve your gynecological experience.

Trigger warning - we discuss the stillbirth of Sara’s twin babies at 20 weeks.

Top quotes:

Sara Tancman: “Doctors are human beings. And as human beings, they have stereotypes from a very young age about men and women, and women are associated with being overreacting and emotional and hysterical. In the case of medicine, these stereotypes can have life and death repercussions.”

Sara Tancman: “It all comes back to having more control over what’s happening. Knowledge, privacy, having choices, it’s all a way of giving women more control in this situation.”

Sara Tancman: “Things can be done a different way, you can have an opinion.”

About Sara Tancman:

Sara Tancman is the founder and CEO of the Briah foundation - based in Israel. Sara founded the Briah foundation following a personal experience that led her to the understanding that there needs to be a drastic change in the way that the medical systems approach women. One of the foundation’s many projects is the ‘Gynecological Examinations Survey (2017-2020)’. This survey consisted of groundbreaking research of 6,500 women (the most robust worldwide survey of this issue worldwide). The survey demonstrated the challenges of the gynecological exams performed today. The results led to the publication of the first official guide for intimate examinations in Israel. You can find out more about her work at: https://www.briah.org/english