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-“Discovery of the pelvis and perineum”, including “Symptothermia” (natural method for managing fertility), or “Instinctive free flow” (do not put hygienic protection during menstruation), “Education in female pleasure “… From June 28 to July 4, 2020, Enjoy your cycle organizes this 100% virtual, 100% free and 100% expert summit and offers the general public and professionals a program of conferences led by specialists, with the mission of offering participants an overview 360 ° of gynecological autonomy. The goal is displayed loud and clear: allow women to discover concrete solutions to their problems and help them be more in tune with their bodies.
In 2020, in France, gynecology remains a taboo subject. And for the organizer of this summit the question arises in these terms: if almost all women know what to do when they have a cold, how many know what requires a visit to the doctor and what can they manage themselves when they have small gynecological problems? The idea is therefore to learn how to function your own body as well as possible, and to avoid finding yourself in fact in a situation of dependence on others when it comes to taking care of them. . Consulting is obviously necessary, but being more independent allows you to gain self-confidence and better live your everyday problems. This also allows you to no longer undergo certain things that can be adjusted or mitigated and end up facing a doctor who says “that’s how it is, there is nothing we can do about it”.
Obviously, many have heard (too much) this sentence and want to demonstrate the opposite independently: 15,500 participants registered for the summit.
Interview with the one who is at the origin of this event, Gaëlle Baldassari, consultant in psychology of the menstrual cycle and creator of the site Enjoy your cycle.
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–Terran women: Gynecological autonomy is, according to your formula, giving women back “gyneco power”, what do you mean by that?
Gaëlle Baldassari: For me, this is the basic briefcase that any young woman should have received around 15-16 years old, to be able to understand her body, what it is and for each of our small daily ills, for the management of our private sphere in complete autonomy.
In my opinion, there are a few essential tools. For example, successfully translating the analysis results. Is there an emergency? What should be done ? There, we have a gynecologist who participates in the summit to explain to us what is in these basic analyzes and how we should react. Another useful tool, the knowledge of plants that can help us, is what we do to treat our small colds, why not do it to relieve other small ailments, without contraindication obviously. For example concerning recurrent yeast infections or too heavy periods, these problems are not taken into account enough by doctors today, while there are solutions. Understanding when we ovulate for example, this too is essential, just like being able to do self-massages to reduce certain pains, these are basic gestures that we want to share.
Gynecological autonomy, for some people, is also leaving women left to their own devices, and that could involve risks?
It is such evidence! All our speakers systematically remind us, you must consult and do your exams of course, we trust women who know what to do.
Difficult to talk about gynecology without mentioning the metoo on gynecological violence?
It is certain, we saw many women, including me for example, who realized that they had experienced gynecological violence without ever having been able to put words. Because there was a kind of normalcy in the differentiated relationship between doctor and patient. Even if this subject is not at the heart of the summit, we can easily imagine that when we are more confident, it is easier to say yes or no during a gynecological examination.
In your opinion, women do not know enough about their bodies, but shouldn’t we also address men?
I still want to say that this summit is primarily for women! (laughs) Because if we know each other, we are still more able to guide the men who would come into contact with our body! It is true that men often come to see me to tell me that they are interested, great! As for the speakers, it would be a shame not to take advantage of the skills of some of them. For example, Pierre-Hugues Igonin, he is one of the rare doctoral students who works on the menstrual cycle. We are happy to welcome him and listen to the results of his research. We also invited Fabien Piascio, dietitian-nutritionist, he wrote a book notably on endometriosis. He specializes in dietetics for women. On the side of the participants, there are mainly practitioners and doctors, very often people who are in the accompaniment of women who have come in a professional capacity. Afterwards, there are also couples who watch part of the conferences together.
You have been fighting for years against the taboo of rules, it still exists?
It remains one of the biggest taboos in the world! It has been about ten years since this subject began to come to light, but I bet that it can go very quickly anyway. Young people who are brought up in families that are no longer in this taboo will, from the next generation, not adopt this taboo.
Some countries have adopted menstrual leave, are you in favor?
To me, this is not a very good idea. Because already this menstrual leave it poses a first problem: that of differentiating men and women in the world of work, so if there is no compensation on the male side, well for an employer it is always easier to employ a man than a woman, and to justify again this differential of wages which one cannot manage to reduce. The second problem, it concerns more the question of pain during this period. What makes you need menstrual leave? It is because we are unable to go to work. For me, it is society that should take care of this situation as a long-term infection, like any problem, for example someone who cannot work because of joint pain is entitled to a sick leave. If it is considered a long-term infection, it does not have a deficiency day and it is supported by the company. While today, women who suffer from endometriosis are not taken care of. The problem is that we confuse the physiology of the cycle with the pathology of the cycle.
It would be nice for everyone to know that you can ease off a bit during the cycle so that you can catch up a few days later, that doesn’t justify taking one day off per month. On the other hand, the pathology of the cycle should be managed. Which is not at all the case. This amalgam is really problematic for women because it leads to justify our differentials that have no place, and not to take care of people who suffer from a pathology.
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