Day 28
It’s Day 28! Almost there…two more days. Guess I’m going to make it another year. So, tonight I decided to look at one of those things that really gets my goat. As a scientist, I find it difficult to understand the urge so many women have for alternative medicine, rejecting what works in favor of what can actually be bad for them. Best case scenario, it does nothing either way. This is somehow seen as “feminine medicine” or some sort of feminine essence that knows these things. Even women doctors are accused of trying to peddle patriarchy when they are only trying to help women stay healthy. This is just one more way in which we become our own worst enemies. So I decided to write a story about it.
First, five women who did things.
Teresa Carreño, pianist, played for Abraham Lincoln in the White House
Annie Easley, rocket scientist
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), author
Mary Katherine Goddard, Baltimore’s first postmaster
Kubaba, first recorded woman ruler, Sumer (now Iraq), 2400 B.C.E.
ALTERNATIVE
Allure looked at the doctor with contempt. “You are just close-minded”, she said. “You are patriarchal and colonialist.”
Dr. Ledbetter sighed. She was really tired of hearing this. “I am far from patriarchal. It is not patriarchal to use correct, evidence-based medicine to help women remain healthy.” She made a note in the chart. “I will leave a note for a prescription. You can call back in when you’re ready, and we’ll call the pharmacy.” A roomful of patients waited. She couldn’t take any longer with this young woman. “Just…don’t put any more rocks up your vagina, okay?”
“It’s empowerment. It’s female medicine.” Allure glared. She had only come in today because her mother practically dragged her. Her regressive, reactionary mother who had a saddle block when she was born, had her in a hospital, and probably messed her up for life.
Rachel glared at the young woman’s retreating back. Honestly, she couldn’t understand this new breed of…well, she wouldn’t call it feminism, because it didn’t look like feminism to her. Some sort of fetishism, she thought. Too many women doing things that can harm them. Jade eggs up her vagina? That was a new one. She couldn’t understand what that was supposed to do for you. “Except put you at risk for toxic shock syndrome”, she muttered.
The rest of the day was packed, and Rachel forgot about the young woman. Most of her patients that day were older women, and she spent her afternoon dealing with women who had ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, and menopause symptoms. The young woman with the yeast infection nagged at her mind, but she pushed her away to deal with the other problems.
Burglar, her cat, stared in confusion as she threw the magazine across the room. She resisted the urge to leap after it and stomp on it, strangle it. “It’s just paper and ink”, she reminded herself. No, she’d really like to strangle the person who wrote the article, the one suggesting women depart clinical medicine for the world of alternative medicine. The article explained that alternative contained the essence of the feminine, the spirit of the divine mother goddess that lurks in all women, and that evidence-based medicine – the article called it “patriarchy medicine” – was a trap to lure women into the patriarchal, imperialist, colonialist western lie.
The article talked about her, too. Well, not directly. It didn’t name her by name; it was a generic model of her. The story was almost identical. A young woman, strongly feminist, drawn to enter the world of medicine. She goes to medical school, does well, in fact does better than most of her male classmates, finishing second in her class – Rachel actually finished second, what a coincidence. That point was where the story got…insulting, she thought. Definitely not interesting. She’d heart this bullshit too many times before.
The young woman described in the article began a good career as a physician, specializing in the problems of women. The only problem, the article explained, is that she got lost along the way. Driven to join men’s world, rather than embracing the feminine nature, her feminism blunted by pursuit of success, she was now part of the conspiracy against women. She was doing the work of western science.
“God, how I hate those words”, Rachel thought. “It isn’t western science, it’s just science. They do it the same way in the east. And the south. And everywhere else science is practiced.” She had been working last week with some celebrated Chinese physicians, and they were even more scornful of so-called traditional Chinese medicine than she was, if that was possible.
“Most of it isn’t even traditional, or Chinese”, one of the doctor’s told her. “It’s just something stupid someone thought up, probably in some commune here in the United States, and called it traditional Chinese medicine so people would buy lots of it.”
She thought about the article a week later as she stared down at the woman on the gurney in the Emergency Room. “Hello, Allure”, she said, remembering the young woman with the yeast infection.
Allure glared at her. “Why are you here?”
“Because I am listed as your doctor on your chart.”
“My mother filled that out. She brought me here.”
Rachel sat next to the girl. She would not treat her without permission, but her condition was serious enough to warrant concern. “How did you burn yourself?”
“I was…I was…steaming my vagina.” Allure gave her a defiant glare. “It cleanses it.”
Rachel sighed. “Allure, your vagina does not need cleansing, not if you are bathing regularly and wiping yourself when you go to the bathroom.”
“I got that…itch.”
“Yes, a yeast infection. Probably from the jade egg, though not necessarily. They are not unusual.”
“It’s from all the toxins”, Allure explained. “The modern world has so many toxins, it’s nearly impossible to remain clean. You have to detox regularly.”
“Steaming your vagina led to second degree burns, and would not do anything to remove any ‘modern toxins’. Yeast infections are not the result of modern toxins. Your vagina contains yeast, in balance with bacteria that prevent overgrowth. If the balance is disrupted…and there are a lot of things that can do that…you get a yeast infection.”
“It hurts.” Allure lost her defiance and gave the doctor a pleading look.
“I can help that. Would you like me to treat you?”
Allure nodded, and signed the paper Rachel was holding. She submitted to an examination, and some cream to soothe the burn. Rachel decided not to admit her, but told her she needed to continue applications of the cream until the blistering and redness and pain went away.
“Thank you, doctor.” Allure hadn’t challenged any of her instructions. “I…I wondered…could you…be my regular doctor? I think maybe…I…” She stammered.
“I will take you on as a patient on one condition”, Rachel said. Allure looked at her. “You promise me you won’t put jade eggs in your vagina, and you will not steam. Or douche”, she added. “You don’t need to douche. Bathing is enough.”
Allure agreed, and left, clutching the sheet of instructions in one hand and a tube of cream in the other. Rachel watched her leave. Today had been a good day.