“Don’t be a diva it’s only a beaver”

[clairestandish]

Just seen this in big pink writing on FB picture being shared round from some sort of smear test campaign, followed by a ‘we’ve seen it all before! go for your smear’ bla bla bla

I keep seeing this kind of thing, lots of focus on the low figures of women attending cervical screening being down to ‘prudish’ women who are too embarrassed.

AIBU to feel annoyed that a lot of the campaigns take this slant? I really don’t think it’s the full reason women decline having cervical screening. Many women have been treated badly by medical staff during childbirth and have a lack of trust or find the process too daunting in light of that. Many women have a history of sexual abuse and can’t face it. I’m sure there are more reasons too and it would be useful to address all of them if we want to improve attendance of cervical screening.

As they just test for HPV now in the first instance, I wonder if in time they'll move to a urine test as this can test for HPV just as effectively.

And to the pp who wondered about Jade Goodie - I think the shock factor of seeing someone so young die was enough.

Her name was Jade Goody.

Some women are being silly (those that have full waxes but won't have a smear for example).

What kind of wax involves putting things inside your body?

The test of the advert, since it wants more women to have smears, will be whether it achieves that. Not whether it is talked about.

I don't mind it at all.

And I quite like the word beaver.

Apparently there are women who will go for a bikini wax but not a smear test. So there are salons that will give you a free wax if you have a smear appointment.

Here's one

www.societyaberdeen.co.uk/fashion-beauty/beauty/beauty-room-nailco-aberdeen-smear-bikini-wax/

I’ve swapped doctors just to get a smear test, had my ‘invite’ rang up to give dates to be told the nurse had nothing for that month & the diary doesn’t go any further but I was welcome to call back at a later date, call back to then be told the nurse was off sick & other nurses fully booked, call yet again to be told understaffed & nothing available, finally after 12 mths of trying on & off I get an appointment in the school hols but luckily DH has own business & kids can go to him, get in taxi to then receive phone call half an hour before appointment slot to say the nurse has gone home due to family emergency, I know it couldn’t be helped but I was furious, geared myself up for it only to be let down! Told the receptionist was fed up of all the bullshit (know I shouldn’t of said it but was furious) asked for another appointment to be told surprise surprise they had nothing & to call back at later date!

Finally have an appointment 28th Feb with new docs surgery this is more me faffing around this time with dates, times etc....

And really, if the NHS do want to increase uptake, making appointments more easily available for women who do actually want screening is the low hanging fruit.

YANBU
I had a horrible first smear. No reassurance, a lot of pain, awful. I almost never went back
I did
No issues
That campaign is no way to talk to women. Would they talk like that to men? Are we divas?
Awful

It rhymes, so it's memorable. believe it's aimed at younger women.
It' got everyone on here talking about it! So it's raising the subject and might remind people to go.
I've always found it embarrassing; I also have hang-ups about my hideous feet, so I keep my socks on :D
On a more serious note, I find it very painful and bleed every time (might be due to a biopsy I had as a younger woman) I cramp afterwards for up to an hour.
The important thing is, I still go and get them done.
I do find it remarkable that women who will get waxed won't go for a smear. Likewise women who have many sexual partners.
I had a friend at university who rarely had her knickers on and had many, many sexual partners - good on her if that floated her boat - but I got annoyed with her about not going for sexual health checks and refusing to use condoms as both those things were 'embarrassing'

Also Beaver? I am foreign and I think I know what that is from movies like American Pie. Awful. Why not use the proper term? Who calls that a beaver?
Disgrace
Someone got paid for that?

I don't have waxes myself, but why on earth are some of you so bemused that some women feel differently about a procedure that involves something inside them and a procedure that doesn't? Because it seems spectacularly obvious to me.

@simiisme Sun 27-Jan-19 17:47:27

On a more serious note, I find it very painful and bleed every time

Just to say that for the medical professional taking a smear test is like anything else - some people are good at it, some people are bad at it.

A friend had all sorts of similar problems but then went to another older nurse in her GP practice and had no problems at all.

It maybe worth noting the name of the nurse who saw you last time and trying someone else in the practice if it's an option.

Seriously - this is an important thing for people to note - some people just aren't good at it particularly if you aren't "standard" eg. have an inverted cervix so it's harder to locate.

Different nurses are different in their skill level at taking a smear test. If you have a bad painful experience, note the nurse's name and try someone else next time to compare

A lady was on earlier who explained that it's not an NHS campaign. So perhaps it's just some interest group, or individual who's put it on social media with the best of intentions and misjudged it (maybe).
It's got people talking about it though - which is worth something in itself, and it's opened up a debate about the varied reasons for people not having them, some logistical, some deeply emotional, and some from discomfort, and probably a few more reasons thrown in the mix too.

Advertising has to evolve as society changes. Making cervical screening the norm and just like going to the hairdressers or for a waxing may help the cause, however there will be hundreds of women who have had bad encounters or a history of abuse that can’t be turned regardless. Advertising won’t work for all.

I think it's a great idea to highlight this in a jokey-friendly way. And generally harmless. If people talk about it openly, I think they're more likely to consider it normal

I haven't seen that advertising campaign, so can't comment. But as someone who is pretty vigilant about my own and my family's health, dutifully going along for screening, I am irritated, every single time, that I cannot go to one place, every three years, to get my cervical smear, breast screening, bloods, pee, weight, BMI, heart and blood pressure, contraceptive/HRT review done all at once. I have to go to different places, initiate different communications in different systems and none of it is straightforward, but usually involves sitting on a phone for fucking ages and hanging around in various difficult-to-get-to and sordid clinics. I'm sure that this kind of thing is what puts busy women off getting their smears done, more than embarrassment.

A full was is far more painful, embarrassing, awkward, and intimate than a smear and far longer

*wax!

A full was is far more painful, embarrassing, awkward, and intimate than a smear and far longer

In YOUR experience. Not every woman finds/has found that to be the case.

Given the EIGHT attempts the nurse had at doing my smear, and that most of my local friends have had similar experiences, I doubt it's "ooo, how embarrassing"

More likely to be "frigging uncomfortable/painful and I'll put it off for a few months"?

Given the EIGHT attempts the nurse had at doing my smear, and that most of my local friends have had similar experiences, I doubt it's "ooo, how embarrassing"

@StroppyWoman - see my post above. Some nurses are just shit at taking smears. Ask to see some one else.

I think a big issue is trying to get an appointment. Our Drs opens 8.30 - 5.30, that's it. It's not great for people who are working full time, it's easy to say well it's just a quick appointment and your employer should allow you time off! I completely agree but if you work an hour away from home, that's at least 2 hours out of your day before you factor in the appointments running late which ALWAYS happen and even trying to get an appointment is a task in itself. Like pps have said our Drs only book appointments 4 weeks in advance, they often don't have an appointment when you call and ask you to call back in 4 weeks....and then repeat!

I also agree that the main barrier is getting an appt. Often months ahead and how can you know if your period will be then or not? And it used to be that you had to book it to be right in the middle... Tricky.

Also lots of women don't track periods that carefully, I was always thrown by "what was the date of your last period" questions when going to doc about well anythign really, as I would be um I don't know couple weeks ago. They would look at me as if I was very very weird for not knowign the date my last period started off the top of my head.

So all in all it's a combination of
More women working FT than in past
Biology not being clockwork
Money meaning services are reduced

If the service was more accessible then that would really help.

Twee, patronising campaign, that ignores the real reasons many women don’t go for screening.

What would really make a difference is having appointments that were easy for most women to attend. Evening and Saturday clinics, for example, with practitioners experienced in performing smears and reassuring women.