TW: Discussion of cervixes.
When I was a junior in college, I went to a cervix workshop led by two doulas and it completely changed my relationship with my body. The women explained the biology of the cervix, and we asked questions about our own bodies. The small circle of women turned into a story share. We divulged very personal things, about sex, pain, pleasure, periods, and even our experiences with STIs and other infections. We smashed stigma. We all hugged. We laughed and cried.
At the end, we were handed plastic speculums and hand mirrors at the end of the workshop and told to go home and check our own cervixes out. And check we did.
I propped myself up with pillows behind my back in bed and positioned the hand mirror with one hand, while inserting the plastic speculum the way I had been taught. It was comfortable, way more comfortable than I'd ever experienced at the doctor. I was absolutely fascinated by what I saw. I actually took a picture... for my own personal (and private) wonderment, of course. (Although there is a website called www.beautifulcervix.com where you can look at cervixes to your heart's delight and even submit your own.)
Small, round, and lower than I'd expected, it was glistening and bright red, like a glossy donut. It actually kind of looked like the tip of a penis. I marveled at it. The hole in the middle (the cervical os, which means eye in Latin) seemed tightly closed. I was so fascinated that I actually took another look the next day, and was completely taken aback - it was like a different person's body in there! Larger, light pink and soft-looking, hiding way up in the back of me with a wider looking os. I was very confused and totally fascinated.
Turns out your cervix actually changes color, size, position, mucosity and openness, every single day. It can even shift from left to right. How fucking cool is that?
When you're ovulating, at peak fertility, your cervix is what doctors call "S.H.O.W.": Soft, high, open, and wet. When you're menstruating, it's low, fairly tightly closed, dry (except for the blood it excretes) and firm to the touch.
I strongly encourage you to take a look at your beautiful cervix. Plastic speculums are cheap and easy to find, and I think everyone with a cervix should take a look at it at least once. Isn't it bizarre that for a while, my cervix was the ONLY part of my body that had only been seen by someone else (my doctor) and never by me? Like, that's weird, right?
Thanks for tuning in to another strange blog post by me, something you never thought you needed to know but you're glad you do, something that made you slightly shift your phone or computer away from others while you were reading. ;
When I was a junior in college, I went to a cervix workshop led by two doulas and it completely changed my relationship with my body. The women explained the biology of the cervix, and we asked questions about our own bodies. The small circle of women turned into a story share. We divulged very personal things, about sex, pain, pleasure, periods, and even our experiences with STIs and other infections. We smashed stigma. We all hugged. We laughed and cried.
At the end, we were handed plastic speculums and hand mirrors at the end of the workshop and told to go home and check our own cervixes out. And check we did.
I propped myself up with pillows behind my back in bed and positioned the hand mirror with one hand, while inserting the plastic speculum the way I had been taught. It was comfortable, way more comfortable than I'd ever experienced at the doctor. I was absolutely fascinated by what I saw. I actually took a picture... for my own personal (and private) wonderment, of course. (Although there is a website called www.beautifulcervix.com where you can look at cervixes to your heart's delight and even submit your own.)
Small, round, and lower than I'd expected, it was glistening and bright red, like a glossy donut. It actually kind of looked like the tip of a penis. I marveled at it. The hole in the middle (the cervical os, which means eye in Latin) seemed tightly closed. I was so fascinated that I actually took another look the next day, and was completely taken aback - it was like a different person's body in there! Larger, light pink and soft-looking, hiding way up in the back of me with a wider looking os. I was very confused and totally fascinated.
Turns out your cervix actually changes color, size, position, mucosity and openness, every single day. It can even shift from left to right. How fucking cool is that?
When you're ovulating, at peak fertility, your cervix is what doctors call "S.H.O.W.": Soft, high, open, and wet. When you're menstruating, it's low, fairly tightly closed, dry (except for the blood it excretes) and firm to the touch.
I strongly encourage you to take a look at your beautiful cervix. Plastic speculums are cheap and easy to find, and I think everyone with a cervix should take a look at it at least once. Isn't it bizarre that for a while, my cervix was the ONLY part of my body that had only been seen by someone else (my doctor) and never by me? Like, that's weird, right?
Thanks for tuning in to another strange blog post by me, something you never thought you needed to know but you're glad you do, something that made you slightly shift your phone or computer away from others while you were reading. ;
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