Dr. Elizabeth Comen

And there's such a fear around breast cancer recurrence, but those studies have not been properly done.

We have some big data, but it's not a prospective study that really needs to be done to look at what are the options.

And then really having informed decision-making with patients who are really, really suffering, what might we be able to offer them and not just have these blanket statements that you can never do it.

No.

And that's one of the threads in the book is really talking about the history of women's sexual health and how much women's sexual function is blamed or focused on as a way that women need to be controlled and behave.

You have scoliosis, you're masturbating.

The number of diseases that were attributable to masturbation, it's a wonder like women have even survived.

It's kind of extraordinary.

I'm like, am I really reading this in a medical journal?

And that's why I had to write about it.

And I think it really, that legacy absolutely lives on today.

We are two times more likely to ask men about sexual side effects from a cancer-targeted therapy than we are women.

A guy walks in with prostate cancer, you can be sure the surgeon is talking about his erectile dysfunction.

When we give women...

All sorts of treatment for breast cancer.

We're not talking to them about intimacy and we should be.

But increasingly and certainly at NYU, we have those resources to address women's sexual health.

It's important.

Well, I've only had one other job someplace else.

It is entirely eye-opening to me.