“Gynecology’s Outrageously Dirty Secret: Medicalized Female Genital Mutilation,” watercolors, ink, psychiatric hospital pencil. 12×9
Modern gynecology grew from violent roots. J. Marion Sims, celebrated by some as the “father of gynecology,” performed repeated surgeries on enslaved Black women in the 1840s without anesthesia or consent. He justified it by falsely claiming they didn’t feel pain like white women. He operated on women, over and over–including 30 surgeries in four years on one named Anarcha–to develop techniques he would later use on white patients, with anesthesia. His work is foundational to a field built on exploitation.
From there, gynecology evolved within a broader system that medicalized and pathologized women’s bodies–especially Black, brown, and poor women–often without addressing consent, autonomy, or justice.
That legacy persists today in deeply disturbing ways. One example is the widespread practice of non-consensual pelvic exams performed on unconscious women during unrelated surgeries, often by medical students. These violations have been documented for decades. Only recently have some states passed laws to outlaw them. That these laws are even needed says everything. But gynecologists often perpetrate far worse violations.
Brooke Shields revealed that her doctor performed a non-consensual “vaginal rejuvenation” procedure, tightening her vaginal opening without asking her, then boasted about it. It’s not an isolated incident. Many women still undergo non-consensual procedures, especially under anesthesia.
Today’s gynecology still carries echoes of its abusive roots, especially the way power is often wielded over patients, sometimes with coerced or no consent. Non-consensual surgeries, like the so-called “husband stitch,” where a doctor adds extra sutures to a woman’s perineum after childbirth to increase vaginal tightness for the satisfaction of a male partner, are reportedly still performed. Many women aren’t asked or even told, only discover it later, often after enduring chronic pain, sexual dysfunction, or shame they were told was “normal.”
A Durham University article states that, “The husband-stitch appropriately fits into the WHO’s definitions of FGM [Female Genital Mutilation]. Since both practices include stitching female genitalia without women’s consent for non-medical reasons, they are abusive practices. This means that like FGM the husband-stitch is a human rights violation of bodily integrity, which is the right to have one’s body not touched or interfered with without one’s consent. This includes any forceful breaking or alteration of an individual’s body.”
No clinical, large-scale statistical studies exist that measure the exact frequency of the “husband stitch”. Because the procedure is medically unendorsed, unscientific, and constitutes severe malpractice, doctors who perform it do not document it in medical records or report it to databases.
A University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine study reports that “This procedure has serious negative health consequences, including dyspareunia and vaginal prolapse. There is a lack of treatment options for health consequences resulting from the Husband Stitch. The women expressed social isolation, and while they have not been diagnosed with mental health disorders, expressions of shame and helplessness are DSM-5-TR criteria for depressive disorders and post-traumatic stress disorders, raising concern for mental health consequences that may result from the ‘Husband Stitch.’”
Yet, the mainstream culture seems to be unconcerned. Brooke Shields’ story hardly raised eyebrows over how common this is as a systemic failure to treat women as full, autonomous human beings. Instead, media focus was overwhelmingly on the sensationalism of the individual act as it pertained to a famous personality, as Shields had expected.
A comprehensive global meta-analysis published in the Journal of International Gynecology and Obstetrics established that the global prevalence of obstetric violence sits at about 55%, with non-consented medical care being the single most common violation at 33%. In addition, cross-sectional data collected by advocacy groups like the Birth Trauma Association found that 40% of women reported undergoing physical procedures during labor—ranging from membrane ruptures to vaginal tearing repairs—without providers seeking or obtaining their explicit consent.
Some women report that their doctor installed pelvic mesh implants without consent. “Many women harmed by mesh have been forced to live with a constant reminder of this lack of consent and abuse of trust, as they deal with significant health problems and difficulties in accessing mesh removal.”
A common gynecological procedure is the perineorrhaphy, in which the doctor cuts away some of the perineum and tightens the underlying pelvic floor muscles with stitches. A survey of gynecologists showed that in 35% of perineorrhaphy cases the practitioner made the decision in the operating room, without necessarily obtaining specific consent. Deep tissue healing, nerve regeneration, and scar tissue maturation in the perineum frequently take 6 months or longer. Because the perineum is a highly sensitive, high-pressure area that moves every time one sits, walks, or goes to the bathroom, long-term discomfort is very common. Gynecologists’ decisions to perform the procedure is based on their “belief” that it helps, but “there is a lack of evidence to support whether this operation benefits patients by measures of improved quality of life, sexual function, or decreased prolapse recurrence.”
Also disturbing, women are often gaslit about their pain after non-consensual gynecological surgery. They’re told it’s in their head, that postpartum sex is supposed to hurt, or that it’s just part of being female. These practices, amplified by posts and testimonies across platforms like Reddit, indicate a pattern of ongoing obstetric and gynecological violence, particularly against women of color, disabled women, and others in vulnerable positions.
The normalization of these abuses extends beyond the doctor-patient relationship in traditional clinics; it is deeply embedded in carceral settings where bodily autonomy is stripped entirely. This is perhaps most starkly illustrated by the 2020 allegations regarding the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Georgia. There, more than 40 women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) accused a gynecologist of performing invasive, unnecessary procedures, including hysterectomies, without their explicit or informed consent. These acts echo the darkest chapters of American history, including eugenics-era forced sterilizations, and demonstrate how vulnerability–whether based on disability, immigration status, or poverty–is weaponized by a system that treats marginalized bodies as disposable assets for institutional control.
The system still treats many women, especially those most marginalized, as if their bodies exist for practice, control, or someone else’s benefit. It’s not medicine if it’s done without consent. It’s sexualized violence, and often, Female Genital Mutilation. And it’s still happening. Because institutions and organizations permit it.
