Jessica Wynn

Yeah.

So a pap smear is a screening test to find abnormal cells on the cervix that could become cancer.

And it's incredibly important and it saves lives.

And the procedure is relatively easy, but really vulnerable.

If you lie on the table, your feet are in the stirrups.

A speculum is inserted to open the vagina.

I assure you, you're not aroused.

And the doctor uses this small brush to collect cells from the cervix.

Yeah, it kind of looks like a torture device.

It's uncomfortable and for some people painful.

But regular screening dramatically cuts cervical cancer deaths.

And generally, if you have a cervix, you should be screened every three years starting in your 20s.

Not surprising, women doctors have now invented better options.

Things like HPV, which is the human papillomavirus, which is extremely common and it's spread through skin-to-skin contact.

It has no symptoms, but it can lead to cancers that are now easier to screen for.

So there's tests that look directly for high-risk strains of the virus that cause cervical cancers.

There's swabs for HPV that you can do yourself with no speculum now.

And there are improved speculum designs, thank you, lady doctors, and techniques that focus more on patient comfort.

But the whole, like, women should feel pain, childbirth is supposed to hurt, stop complaining mindset, that's really slowed innovation.

Oh, yeah, of course.