Hi Vulvodynia Friends,
Please take a second to fill out the questionnaire below to help my friend with her research and paper about women with Vulvodynia. Too many of us have this condition for people not to know. It is painless (no pun intended) and confidential. Just take a few minutes in the next 3-5 days and email her the answers directly.
hooper.meghan@gmail.com
Thx,
Mandy
Women with Vulvodynia Ethnography: Preliminary Questions
Meghan Hooper, April 2, 2012
I am taking an anthropology course called Stigma, which goes into Irving Goffman’s stigma theory and various stigmatized groups in popular culture. For a final project we are required to write an ethnography of the stigmatized group of our choice. I have chosen to do my project on women with Vulvodynia because I would like to delve deep into what it must feel like to have an illness not widely acknowledged, or accepted for that matter, by society. I know of Vulvodynia and the many challenges that those diagnosed with it face from my dear friend, Mandy. Should you choose to participate, your privacy will remain an utmost priority and the information you provide will only be used to hopefully enlighten others on Vulvodynia and therefore reduce the stigma attached to such an illness. I will be grateful for any information you would like to share.
Many thanks, Meghan
Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer these questions!
1. How many years have you been suffering from Vulvodynia?
2. How many years did you suffer from symptoms prior to getting diagnosed?
3. If you were misdiagnosed, what are some examples of false diagnoses that were given?
4. In what ways has having Vulvodynia most profoundly affected your life?
5. In what ways has having Vulvodynia affected your personal relationships (i.e. partners, friends, family, colleagues)?
6. Have you been able to conduct sexual relationships?
7. What does it feel like to suffer from an illness considered a “medical mystery”, one that very few people have ever heard of?
8. Have you been able to find adequate support? If so, who and/or what entities do you consider a part of your support network?
9. Have you been able to effectively communicate with others regarding Vulvodynia so that they might understand and empathize with what you are going through?
10. What have you found most frustrating in regards to people not understanding what you are going through?
11. What are your most common symptoms and how persistent are they (i.e. do they tend to be intermittent or cyclical or do they not go away at all)? Do you experience pain daily or only during intercourse?
12. What treatments have you tried to alleviate your symptoms?
13. What treatments have you found to actually help with symptoms?
14. Are there any other illnesses you suffer from that you connect to Vulvodynia?
15. Please list any adjectives that might describe how you feel on a day to day basis that you would attribute to Vulvodynia.
15. Do you feel that progress is being made in the U.S. to further understand and treat Vulvodynia?
16. Have you felt stigmatized by society or those in your inner circle because of having Vulvodynia?
17. How would you define your sexuality before and after having Vulvodynia?
18. Did you experience symptoms with your first sexual experience or later on? How did this have a bearing on your emotional state at the time and at present?
Vulvodynia Monoblog 
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