The Benefits and Disadvantages of Sex and Medicine to Women

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Sex and Medicine
The concepts of sex and medicine interrelate when discussing the structure and characteristics of an individual and how various types of medical interventions can be utilized for the best or worse of an individual’s sexual identity. In the three readings, the concept of sex describes the challenges women go through in discovering and dealing with their sexual illnesses, sexual identity, and the visualization of fetuses in today’s society. The intervention of medicine in these three perspectives brings about the benefits and disadvantages of sex and medicine to women.
One of the significant drawbacks of sex and medicine among women is inadequate and accurate sex education. Enough and thorough sex education is essential in empowering women to know about their bodies and what they are experiencing. However, women are often left at the mercies of their imagination with unfounded ideas of what their sexuality means. According to “The Exam,” Henrietta first talks about her sexual struggles with her cousins as “a knot.” Also, she describes sexually transmitted diseases as “bad blood sometimes brought home after nights with other women- the kind doctors treated with shots penicillin and heavy metals (Skloot 2-3).” While the story is based in the 1880s, when African American women were uneducated and faced segregation, failure to know about sexually transmitted ailments and cancer portrays an information gap that women had to grapple with in the past. Similarly, according to Alice Dreger, the medical field’s education gap in defining a female’s sexual organs is astounding. She documents how even medical experts with years of experience intentionally use the word “vagina” to describe “vulva,” which is misleading (Dreger 208).
Women’s need for sexual health is portrayed in a superficial nature in which women’s sexuality and their needs are treated. Women have woefully...