Representing Women鈥檚 Health
Exploring arts, literature, and film to reduce stigma and increase awareness of women鈥檚 pain.
Overview
Women鈥檚聽gynaecological聽health聽can cause significant聽physical pain and psychological suffering. Yet this聽is far too often a stigmatised subject.聽From menstruation to contraceptive use to pregnancy to childbirth to postpartum recovery to menopause, women are often expected to bear pain in silence and accept it as聽a fact of life. The isolation of women鈥檚 pain is reflected in how聽seldom聽works of art and culture describe these experiences聽accurately.
This website聽is聽a resource聽for women, healthcare professionals, and the聽general public. It聽features聽a searchable compendium with links, summaries, and brief analyses of works of literature, film, television, art, and pop culture. These artworks聽all聽explore women鈥檚 experiences of pain and sickness.聽The聽materials聽on this site聽can act as聽experience-affirming resources for women suffering gynaecological or pelvic pain. The goal is to聽increase empathy and diminish isolation.
Lead researcher
Keru Cai
Funding
HAL Seed Grant; 91色情片 Career Advancement Fund
Research area
Literature, film, media, health humanities
Challenges
- Affirm women鈥檚 experiences of pain聽and build solidarity
- Use artworks聽to build empathy in healthcare settings and the聽general public
- Improve health outcomes by helping women advocate for themselves聽
Impact
Using humanistic study of literature, film, and other arts,聽the field of聽health humanities deepens聽clinical and social understanding of illness and suffering.聽This research聽project聽aims to make conversations about women鈥檚 gynaecological and reproductive health more informed, accessible, and prevalent in academic, healthcare, and broader public settings. In this way, art has a role to play in聽lessening the shame and stigma surrounding these experiences. Moreover, arts from聽different cultures聽can build cross-cultural understanding of how different races and ethnicities experience these stigmatised issues.
