“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.

The slogan makes me cringe. YANBU

I already know I have HPV. I only want to be screened for abnormalities, not called in for colposcopy automatically because I have HPV, as I live in a rural area and have a child with SN who cannot be left with anyone but my spouse, who works shifts with a rota put out only a week in advance at most, so going in for a colpo is going to take a long time (I live at least 1 hour away and that is if public transport is running and I don't drive) and cost a tenner minimum with a, I am NOT joking, a 10 mile walk to and from (5 from my home and another 5 back and forth to hospital). Clinic runs late and I'll have to leave, he cannot be picked up from the school bus by just anyone, either.

Any ideas? Because if they're just sending everyone who has HPV straight to colpo then there is no point in my having a smear test because I always have HPV.

Or is better just to shame and sneer at me being a 'diva' about my 'beaver'?

They don’t send everyone with hpv to colposcopy aethelgifu

They see if the smear is positive for HPV.
If yes, they look at the cells and decide what to do next.

The better campaign would be to make screening more accessible. I mean, look at the poster who rang today and the soonest appointment they can offer her is in April. What if she doesn't get paid for time off and the clinic runs late and she goes without 10 or 20 quid she actually needs to feed her kids? Or has irregular periods with flooding and won't give a good sample if she's on her period?

Accessible clinics and times would probably take a lot of the sting out of it. Before the screening programme, I used to just make an appointment at a convenient time which would take about 3 days. Then it was done.

Maybe they should be looking a bit closer to home then instead of blaming it on women

Patient blaming now seems to be embedded in the nations psyche.

Where exactly have i told Op to do that?
Every opinion counts with something like this-there is no 'one size fits all ' approach to a campaign like this. All I have done is try to explain facts and figures that may have contributed to the rationale behind it

Patient blaming now seems to be embedded in the nations psyche.

Yes, it's quite upsetting how normalised it is.

I don't go for smears. My reasons are personal and include both rape and a previous traumatic experience. I literally gave birth to my only child from underneath a blanket. I've made the choice not to have any more children. I'm most certainly not a diva. The slogan is both ludicrous and demeaning. Maybe if it wasn't so intrusive and other options were explored the attendance rate would improve.

Yes re the patient blaming.

Patronising, insulting and smug.

I'm a grown woman, I have considered the potential risks, benefits, likelihood of false positives, etc, and made a rational decision not to have one. Why must they treat women like children?

I have a lot of sympathy for those of you who don't go for smears for traumatic reasons but surely the treatment for cervical cancer if you got it would be far more traumatic than the smear test. However this campaign is not aimed at you, no campaign can be aimed at every woman, because we are all different.
It is aimed at the significant number of women who cited embarrassment as the reason they do not go for smears. It is aimed at the women who will strip off for a wax appointment but not for a smear appointment.

I actually don't think this helps. Work in the medical field- nurse. Chirping to a young girl don't worry I've seen heaps of these before doesn't suddenly make them comfortable. I've never seen theirs. I feel the same- I don't care you've seen 5 vaginas today- none of them have been mine. This trivialises the embarrassment (which is unecessary) which people feel with invasive procedures on genitals. A recognition of we know you're embarrassed, but we will do what we can to make you comfortable would be more effective. More recognition that you're allowed to feel embarrassed and nervous, but the benefits are so much more long lasting than that feeling.

I still can't find any reference to this slogan anywhere but here! I wonder if this thread is actually a market research exercise to see what the reaction to it is. If that is the case, we won't be seeing it anywhere else any time soon.

You could well be on to something blue. There seem to be a lot of smear threads at the moment.

No, I’ve definitely seen those words on Facebook this week.

It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any more than a meme someone’s made up at home tho.

From twitter

Sophie WilkINson
‏ @sophwilkinson
1h1 hour ago

WOMEN! Lots of you aren't going for smear tests because you're concerned/have had previous bad experiences. I want to take your concerns to experts so they can address them, for @GraziaUK. Please tell me (anonymously) ur concerns on [email protected]

I see loads of vaginas at work. But I still get very anxious getting mine out for a whole host of reasons - none of which are because I’m worried about what it looks like.

It’s not just a beaver. Its someone’s genetalia.

I have a lot of sympathy for those of you who don't go for smears for traumatic reasons but surely the treatment for cervical cancer if you got it would be far more traumatic than the smear test.

If in doubt, regarding your knowledge of a woman’s horrific experience, patronising the very people that have been through it, is no help whatsoever.

Scrolling further back through that journalists feed i found this.

Sophie WilkINson
‏ @sophwilkinson
Jan 28

The thing about #SmearForSmear is that I genuinely feel less embarrassed by my smear test than of wearing lipstick so I have no photo to share, but ffs if you’re due to, go and get a smear test!!! The test itself isn’t physically uncomfortable at all, and overall, really worth it

Sounds like someone who has already made her mind up.

@PositivelyPERF

intactcervix.com/2017/09/20/dinas-story-gaslighted-by-the-medical-system/

cancerscreeningfacts.blogspot.com/2019/01/treatment-for-abnormal-cervical.html

Although even at CIN3, we can see that the risk is just 12%

My abnormal smear was a CIN3. It had already progressed too far for a loop excision and I had to have surgery.

I'm amazed that anyone would consider a 12% chance (probably higher in my case given the degree when they looked into it) "just".

More than 1 in 10 women with CIN3 stages will go on to develop cancer and she think thats "just" a 12% chance of getting cancer.

Did you know that less than 10% of women who currently smoke will get lung cancer and we think that is unacceptable!!!!

Choose to not get a smear if you like, but a blog trying to persuade me that a smear test didn't reduce my at least 12% chance of getting the cervical cancer that killed my mother to virtually nil is bizarre.

And the problem is that until you had a smear you have no idea if you're going to be in the "oopsy you've got an abnormal smear but it's unlikely to much sorry to have alarmed you" or the "oh shit... umm.....we need you to be seen within 2 weeks".

I’ve been lurking on this thread as it’s a subject I feel very strongly about. I won’t go into all the details of my past experiences but I am one of those women who find smears very difficult, to the point of impossible. Even just talking about the process can cause me to have flashbacks to past trauma. I had my first smear at age 35 – after 4 years of regular psychotherapy and having met with the hcp on several occasions to help desensitise myself to the process before actually going through with it. I wanted to do it. It was important for me as part of reclaiming control over my body. I really trusted the hcp, she was amazingly gentle and supportive and did absolutely nothing wrong but afterwards I was suicidal and ended up in a downward spiral of depression and anxiety due to the vulnerability and violation I felt that day. I’ve had a lot of help to get me past that point again.

The reason I am posting now is that one of my friends has posted this campaign on facebook. Two other friends have liked and commented and now there is a discussion between them about “stupid, vain women” who deserve to get cancer if they are such special snowflakes, they can’t cope with a bit of embarrassment etc. I’m sure you can imagine the conversation. There is a lot of it on this thread. I adore my friends; they are amazing, intelligent women but they, like others, are not thinking beyond the concept of “embarrassment”. I feel like shit because of my past experiences and I feel like shit because I can’t do something that normal women find easy. Then, on top of all this feeling like shit, I feel patronised and attacked, called a diva and other things because of the way I am. The four of us are meeting tomorrow night and I know feel sick with worry that this conversation will come up in person. They know nothing about my past and my ongoing struggles and I want to keep it that way. That’s the problem with campaigns like these. It’s all very well to say that it’s not aimed at people like me and I can just scroll on but when these thoughts are constantly in your head, you can’t just scroll past something that seems like a personal attack. By all means, have a campaign targeting a certain demographic but don’t make it automatically offensive or upsetting to a different group of people.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47074657

Since the cervical screening is in the middle of a massive change, needing new IT to cope with primary HPV screening, rearranging labs and managing the change over to needing fewer cytologists (and then people walking from their jobs when they get the opportunity before they are laid off - who wouldn't?), you have to wonder why anyone thought January was a really good time to have an awareness campaign at all