Lesbians face higher risks of certain sexual health complications, due largely to financial and emotional barriers to seeking medical care. Lesbians are less likely than heterosexual or bisexual women to have children, which in some cases has been linked to higher chances of endometriosis, breast cancer, and other cancers.1 Additionally, lesbians who fear discrimination in doctor’s offices or have experienced sexual trauma may be less inclined to go to a physician or OB-GYN if they are unsure how their sexuality will affect their treatment.2
In Dyke TV’s very first Lesbian Health segment, shown below, two members of the Dyke TV team provide information on how to perform a pelvic exam at home using a speculum.3 Aware that many lesbians do not feel safe to go to a doctor’s office, Dyke TV provides advice for how to take care of your vaginal health in a style that is both approachable and witty.
Watch the Interactive Video below to learn more about Dyke TV’s work with sexual health
The segment cuts between the women offering tips for maintaining a “healthy, happy vagina” and shots of Barbie dolls pointing out sites of interest on an anatomical chart. At the segment’s end, one anchor, Debbie, promotes the Community Health Project, a local lesbian and gay health clinic, to provide assistance to viewers who do not have healthcare or who want to seek treatment in a queer-affirming space.
Through health segments like this one, Dyke TV turned something that is often scary for women — gynecological health — into something playful, friendly, and affirming.
Footnotes:
- Jessica Colarossi, “A Silent Epidemic? Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Women Receive Less Post-Cancer Treatment Than Everyone Else,” The Brink, Boston University, Jul. 24, 2019, http://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/lgbtq-post-cancer-treatment/. ↩
- “Lesbian Health Status and Health Risks,” ed. A. L. Solarz, Lesbian Health: Current Assessment and Directions for the Future, (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1999), available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK45095/. ↩
- Dyke TV, Episode 1, 1993, Dyke TV Records, Sophia Smith Collection, Northampton, Massachusetts. ↩