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Women's Health

A gynecologist asked women how visits could be improved. Thousands responded, in detail.

"How would you design/optimize a visit to the gynecologist’s office? No detail is too small.”

Many would agree that gynecology visits could be improved upon.

When picturing a doctor’s office, you might imagine a less than warm atmosphere. Those oh-so-lovely fluorescent lights instantly come to my mind. Imagine if a doctor told you, “I want to design our visit in a way that makes you feel most comfortable.” Suddenly that annual check-up doesn’t sound so dreadful after all.

Dr. Ryan Stewart, a urogynecologist at the Midwest Center for Pelvic Health, recently asked women to weigh in on the redesign of his office. Posting the question to X, he wrote: “I have the opportunity to design my office from scratch. I’m asking women. How would you design/optimize a visit to the gynecologist’s office? No detail is too small.”

 gynecology, gynecologist, women's health, medicine, OBGYN The gynecologist's office is a vulnerable place.Photo credit: Canva

His tweet ended with “If I’ve ever had a tweet worthy of virality, it’s this one.”

And boy was he right. His tweet nearly instantly received thousands of replies. Turns out, there are a lot of ways to improve a visit to the gyno.

Including:

Empathy toward sexual trauma

 

This includes starting the exam off asking if a patient has any trauma, and not dismissing feelings of discomfort, according to commenters.

Improved intimacy

 
 

As part of improved privacy, many advocated to not be asked if an intern can observe while the intern is still in the room.

"It's hard to say no to them," one person wrote.

Another added "I'm sitting on the table in the gown and [the gyno] brings in this young guy and says 'you don't mind him observing this do you?' I consented but have been pissed off ever since and never went back to her."

One person mentioned that their current doctor recently swapped the thin, exposing paper gown for spa style robes, adding both privacy and a dash of luxury.

Diverse posters

 
 

This suggestion comes aptly timed, as the diagram (above) of a black fetus recently inspired a viral conversation. Many were noting that they had never seen one in medical imagery before.

One person remarked, "I am 53 years old and have never seen myself represented in anything in a doctor's office, even pamphlets. Change that!"

Mental health screenings

 

Waiting until the clothes are ON to disclose important info

"Don’t discuss care or diagnoses when people are naked," pleaded a commenter in a now-deleted tweet. "I remember how much more respected and comfortable I felt when a new gynaecologist introduced himself to me while I was clothed, did the exam, then had me get dressed and meet him in his office to discuss care! Much better!"

Bottom line: It's already a vulnerable time. Let people have a moment to get comfortable.

One person added "I have always had to specifically ask to be able to talk to my doctor clothed first. Even when I hadn't met that doctor yet. I feel like that should be default, not up to me to ask for. It's such a power imbalance already, don't add unnecessary vulnerability."

Ditching the pink

 

To some, it's mildly annoying. To others, it's even triggering.

One person tweeted, "I went through a breast cancer scare, & EVERY women's medical office I went to–pink EVERYWHERE. I was at a really terrified moment in my life, & pink, pink, pink. I 100% can't stand it anymore."

Offering pain meds

 

Potentially painful procedures like IUD insertions or cervical biopsies typically only offer medication upon request. This Twitter user suggested offering them, making it clear that the patient has the option.

More accessibility in the exam and waiting rooms

 

Tables that lower for those with mobility issues as well as higher waiting room chairs were among the most frequently suggested items.

And lastly … a variety of speculum sizes

 gynecology, gynecologist, speculum, OBGYN, women's health, pap smear Speculums may be metal or plastic, but they're always cold.Photo credit: Canva

""A wide variety of speculum sizes, and introduction to the exam room including a play by play of how the visit will go," wrote one person in a now-deleted tweet. "Most people never get this and the office staff never ask if it’s their first exam and most people wouldn’t disclose fear or stress if they have it."

The general consensus: and while you're at it, warm them up too.

Dr. Stewart’s tweet did receive constructive criticism asking for more inclusion

 

Dr. Stewart welcomed the insight, sending a follow-up tweet that read:“Folks have [correctly] pointed out that I [incorrectly] said “women” when what I should have said was “folks who may need gynecologic care.” I named the practice with this in mind @midwestpelvis, but I find that I still have a lot of internalized/implicit bias.”

This viral thread might have started a trend. Soon after another medical practitioner tweeted:

“Love urogynecologist Dr. Stewart asking for input on ideal office design and wanted to ask the oncology community something similar: given that no one wants to come to a cancer doctor…what makes the experience MOST comfortable?”

Though Dr. Stewart describes his philosophy online as “I want you to leave every appointment feeling as though you’ve learned more about yourself,” it’s lovely to see that he is equally invested in learning about his patients as well.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

Women shock their boyfriends with tampon tutorials.

Menstrual taboos are as old as time and found across cultures. They've been used to separate women from men physically—menstrual huts are still a thing—and socially, by creating the perception that a natural bodily function is a sign of weakness. Even in today's world, women are deemed unfit for positions of power because some men actually believe they won't be able to handle stressful situations while mensurating.

"Menstruation is an opening for attack: a mark of shame, a sign of weakness, an argument to keep women out of positions of power,' Colin Schultz wrote in Popular Science in 2014. The big problem with menstrual taboos is the way that males are (or are not) educated on the subject leaves them with a patchwork of ideas that don't necessarily add up to the whole picture. First, there's the information they get from growing up with women in the house.

Then, there are the cryptic descriptions of menstruation seen in advertising and the cold, scientific way the topic is taught in sex education.

"Boys' early learning about menstruation is haphazard," a 2011 study published in the Journal of Family Issues reads. "The mysterious nature of what happens to girls contributes to a gap in boys' knowledge about female bodies and to some negative views about girls." Over a decade on from the study, and not much has changed. Men are still woefully undereducated on women's health and periods specifically, and, though there's acknowledgment they deserve more information and education, little progress has been made. In fact, boy's and men's misunderstanding or total lack of understanding surrounding menstruation is often played for laughs.

Unfortunately, the gaps in the average man's understanding of a complex female health issue can put women in a difficult position, whether it's denying them positions of power or a failure to understand their discomfort and their medical, physical, and emotional needs.

That's why it's so important for men to become better educated about menstruation.

A group of women on TikTok are helping the men in their lives better understand the subject by showing them how tampons work on the inside of their bodies. They call it the Boyfriend Challenge. Some of the guys' reactions are clearly over-the-top, but it's also obvious that many of them have no idea how tampons function.

A video by the Demery family has gone viral attracting nearly eight million views. It's fun to watch, but it also shows men how tampons function and what women go through during their monthly cycle.

@thedemeryfamily22

His reaction is priceless😂 #cutecouple #pregnant #prego #viral #InLove #couplegoals #trend #tampon

It's a bit of a facepalm moment that her man think he has to "compete" with a tampon after he's shown how it works, but I digress...

In another video, Rachel's man just uttered the phrase "vagina parachute." Sure, why not.

@mrshillery829

Of course I had to make my husband do this! I will forever call tampons “vagina parachutes”! LMAO!! #tamponchallenge #husbandpranks #funny #fyp


Paulina's man was completely flummoxed by the inner workings of a tampon. "You've been carrying this like, inside of you?" he asks. "The whole day?"

@paulinat

showing him how a tampôn works😭 @fabioguerrrraa

This guy thinks it's "like a butterfly."

@amanialzubi

showing my boyfriend how a tampon works 🤣😳❤️ ( @originalisrael ) #comedy #couple #couplegoals #foryou #trend #tiktok

This guy was in utter shock.

@thekelleyfamily

lmaoooo why 😂😭 #tamponchallenge #trend #hilariouscomedy #couple #married #foryoupage #fyp #xyzbca

Let's hope this challenge gave some men out there a better understanding of what women go through every month and a little more sympathy for the women in their lives. Hopefully it also makes them feel a little more comfortable around period products and inspires them to pick up the correct box of tampons next time they're at the grocery store.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

Canva Photos

No one seems particularly happy about Tinder's new filter, for many different reasons.

Can we agree that no one really "likes" using dating apps? It's just that there aren't many better options anymore, and that's saying something because dating apps truly don't work very well.

A recent survey showed that about eight percent of people met their current or most recent partner on a dating app or website. That's...a pretty low number, considering these apps have been extremely popular and mainstream for well over a decade. Why aren't they more effective? Well, apps encourage people to look for stimulation and validation rather than real connection. They encourage shallow behaviors and preferences, and they make it easy to ghost and go find someone new at the drop of a hat—or just because you're suddenly not feeling the vibe.

All signs currently point to the problem, and dating apps in general, getting worse rather than better. And the excruciating "women only like tall men!" discourse will never recover from the latest development.

Tinder, widely considered the most popular dating app in the United States, recently added a new and controversial premium feature for some paying users. They'll now be able to filter out potential matches by height.

If you're a paid user with access to the setting in your profile, you'll be able to set a maximum and minimum height for people you'd like to match with.

tinder, dating apps, dating, love, relationships, sex, hookups, bumble, hinge, match, dating tips, online datingTinder is the top dating app in the United States. Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

Tinder actually isn't the first app to try this. Bumble previously had height filtering as a premium option before eventually removing the feature (though there's still an open spot in your profile to list it). Hinge has a height option as well. And now, Tinder. It's all part of Tinder's new rebrand to be taken more seriously as a way for Gen Z users to find real connection and relationships, as younger generations are less drawn to hook-ups. They're calling it a "broader effort to help people connect more intentionally on Tinder."

(To be fair, the height setting is not a hard filter. It's just a strong suggestion that helps guide the algorithm. It's also, for now, just a test and not a permanent feature.)

The trouble is that height seems to be the only physical attribute you can filter by, which plays into some really nasty stereotypes about heightism and online dating. But hey, preferences are preferences. Luckily, the announcement sparked a firestorm of interest and debate about the new feature—and dating app users have lots of ideas for new filters they'd like to see in the near future.

Weight filter

Yes, this is the obvious joke suggestion that's been made all over the Internet in response to Tinder's news. But it's kind of fair. Who gets to decide which physical preferences are offensive and which are legitimate?

Salary/Net income filter

It's perfectly reasonable to want a partner with a stable career. But do we really care about the actual career or do we just want to make sure they make enough money? Honestly. Some users would like to see a salary slider in the settings to weed out anyone who can't match their lifestyle, or who might get weird about splitting the bill on the first date.

Hair and eye color filter

You might prefer a partner with dark hair, and that might show up in your swiping preferences. But why bother swiping when you could essentially just erase light-haired people from your entire world with a filter? After all, what really matters is efficiency and saving everyone time.

Cup size / penis size filter

OK, look, I didn't say it, but this one has come up on all the dating app subreddits many, many times. Sometimes in jest, sometimes not...

Abs filter

It's not enough to be able to see whether someone has abs or not in their photos. To save everyone time and maximize efficiency, we should just auto-filter them out if they don't have a six-pack. Or, conversely, if you're not down with eating chicken and broccoli for every meal, you can filter the gym-heads out from the get-go.

Fishing/hunting filter

Women on social media have been clamoring for this one for a while, and would surely pay top dollar. We've got AI technology now; there's no reason we can't tell that a guy is holding a fish or a severed deer head in his photo and promptly remove him from the queue. The filter can work overtime for if someone's holding a gun.

Conversely, you might be really into these things, and the filter could end up working in your favor, too.

tinder, dating apps, dating, love, relationships, sex, hookups, bumble, hinge, match, dating tips, online datingA hunting/fishing filter on Tinder: Who says no? Photo by luis arias on Unsplash

Onlyfans filter

Similarly, there's got to be a way to run text analysis on a profile to find out if the person is hawking a paid NSFW profile online somewhere.

Married filter

You'd think this wouldn't be necessary, but here are we. One survey recently found that an astounding 65% of Tinder users were married or in a relationship. Whether they're polyamorous, looking for a third, cheating, or something else... can we auto-scan the photos for a wedding ring or something? Run the names against a marriage license database?

Spelling and grammar filter

There's no reason that Tinder and Bumble couldn't partner with Grammarly and give us a sense of people's reading or literacy level, filtering out anyone who doesn't meet a certain standard.

Old photo / heavily filtered photo filter

Surely, we have the technology for this. If people are misrepresenting the way they look with fancy filters or outdated photos, then premium users should reserve the right to have those people removed from their queue. If the photo was taken with an Olympus digital camera circa 2002, let the filter do its thing!

tinder, dating apps, dating, love, relationships, sex, hookups, bumble, hinge, match, dating tips, online datingSome users want the Tinder algorithm to weed out people with old or heavily filtered photosUnsplash

Some of the new filter ideas are clearly ridiculous. Others might actually be helpful. But put them all together and it paints a pretty bleak picture of modern dating.

Having preferences and likes or dislikes is totally fine, and a natural part of dating. The idea is that you're supposed to find these things out with your eyes or by actually talking to people and learning about them. Being genuinely curious about another human being you find attractive and interesting is part of the process. Skipping that by adding preferential filters that remove more and more people from your orbit is antithetical to what looking for love is supposed to be all about. And maybe that's exactly what Tinder and the other apps (many of whom are owned by the same corporation) are going for.

NPR cleverly points out that we shouldn't forget dating apps are run by for-profit companies. When two people meet on the app, fall in love, and settle down together, the app loses two crucial users. Keeping people frustrated, stuck on the app, and desperate enough to pony up for "premium features" and better filtering is the better move for them—and of course, spotlighting a few happy endings here and there just to give everyone some hope.

"Heightism" definitely exists in the dating world, and especially on apps, but it definitely seems like Tinder is intentionally stoking that fire to boost their paid user base. Now you've got short guys that are hurt and pissed off, and women that are sick of being accused of being shallow for their legitimate preferences, and everyone's angry at everyone else. It's a move that ultimately drives us further apart.

Canva

A woman looks annoyed over coffee. Two people grab the check.

You know that moment on a date where you feel you're totally vibing? They say something funny, or they get your super obscure joke. There's a sparkle in both of your eyes when one of you says, "No way! Breaking Bad is my favorite show too!" Then the check comes, and what happens next is totally unexpected.

That's what happened when a 29-year-old woman was set up by a mutual friend with a 31-year-old guy. According to a story on Yahoo! Life (via People Magazine), they met for coffee, laughed and bonded, and when the (for some reason) $100 check came, he paused and said, "Is it alright if you pay for this?" Now that wasn't the bad part. She actually claims she had every intention of splitting the check and wasn't too flustered that he asked her to pay.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com, CBC Vancouver

She claims, however, "Right after I paid, he got this huge grin on his face and said, ‘Congratulations, you passed the test! You're not a gold digger.'"

She was not pleased and told him as much. “I told him that I'm not his ex and he has no right to treat me like I'm guilty until proven innocent. I also said he’s not some prize that I need to pass tests for.”

She then told their mutual friend she wasn't interested and blocked him. But, unfortunately, he started making fake accounts and even tried to hit her up on LinkedIn, and from there—things got a bit scary.

She explains, "At first, it was stuff like ‘I just want to explain,’ then ‘You’re not like other girls.' Then it turned into full paragraphs about how I’m ‘punishing’ him for protecting himself and how he’s the one who feels betrayed.'"

She posted this story on the popular subreddit page, r/AITAH (Am I the A-hole), and it went completely viral. And although she deleted her original post, Redditors are not done discussing the topic. Thousands have commented, with tons rolling in every hour—and they have lots of different angles.

First, the stalking aspect. One commenter warns, "The fact that he is stalking you, contacting you through fake phone numbers and changed accounts is a huge red flag. Relationship tests are bad, but when you pass and you decide that the relationship test was also a test of them and they failed, and they don't give up, gives bunny in the pot vibes."

Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction, stalking, movies, relationshipsGlenn Close's character in Fatal Attraction.Giphy Paramount Pictures

Some are concerned by his behavior, and one gives advice to stop "feeding him." "At this point, no response is better. If you respond to a pest, it just feeds the animals. Like a small kid who knows with certain people if they whine enough or throw a big enough tantrum, they will get their way. You don't want him to think it just takes persistence and OP will respond. Hell no! OP should not put any energy or response to his behavior."

More than one person points out the irony that HE was testing HER and suggests she tell him "he failed the stalker test multiple times."

Many agree that she is not, in fact, the a-hole—though not all. One assures her, "Wonderful! It was a great test for you to realize what a POS he really is!! Stay away from him!! You definitely dodged that bullet!!"

A few question why a coffee date cost 100 dollars. "I wanna know what coffee shop y’all went to so I can avoid it because there’s no way in hell coffee and pastries cost $100." (It's later pointed out that the OP stated she was not in the U.S., so perhaps it's not actually in U.S. dollars.)

coffee, pastries, dating, latte, dateCoffee and pastries are displayed on a table. Photo by Vicky Gu on Unsplash

On a more serious note, this person breaks it down all in one place: "The problem is not that he tested her on a date… we constantly test the other person when dating to see if they are suitable long-term partners, women do this to men constantly even after marrying them. What’s good for one is good for the other… moving on since I actually have to preface THAT.

The real issue is two things… 1. He told her about the test afterward instead of noting her passing the test in his mind and moving on… 2. He is now stalking her when she was no longer interested… a major sign of weakness and low emotional health."

Others discuss how reasonable, healthy people go about money on dates. A comment on the Yahoo! story shares their way of dealing with finances: "My last lady friend and I had a great system for sharing expenses. If I invited her out to eat or a movie, I paid. If she invited me out for dinner, a play or other event, she paid. I did some different maintenance and repair around her house and she home-cooked me a nice meal. She made a standing offer to help me with some of my home improvements, including cleaning up the mess after the work. I've never asked her for a dime of her considerable money and she hasn't offered because I made it clear at the start that I can manage without anyone helping me. It worked for over ten years."

gold, money, golddigging, dating, gold diggerBars of gold are stacked side by side. Photo by Jingming Pan on Unsplash

And one has the perfect quip about how oftentimes, the person who thinks they're the biggest prize isn't quite that: "I’d bet money that he’s one of those men who accuses women of being gold diggers… when he’s got no gold."