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Paper short abstract:
Several studies have highlighted the link between pelvic pain and sexual violence in people with vaginas. Despite this, health services have made it invisible, denying or questioning their perceptions of pain and/or sexual violence by promoting non-existent, partial or even iatrogenic interventions.
Paper long abstract:
Gynaecological-obstetric violence has been widely reported and recognised in recent years as a form of institutional gender-based violence anchored in the dominant hetero-cis-patriarchal cultures, including the medical field (Council of Europe, 2019). In this sense, several studies have highlighted the relationship between different types of pelvic/genital/sexual pain and sexual violence and abuse previously experienced by women and people with vaginas throughout their lives (Charbonneu-Lefebbvre et al., 2022; Jackowich et al., 2021; Komesu et al., 2021; Corsini-Munt et al., 2017; Cichowski et al., 2013; Harlow, 2005). Despite this, medical/health services have historically (Sims,1861; Masson,1985) invisibilised these people, denying or questioning their perceptions of pain and/or their experiences of sexual violence by promoting non-existent, partial or even iatrogenic interventions (Davidson, 2023; Niedenfuehr et al., 2023; Labuski, 2017). This is compounded when, in addition, different axes of oppression intersect (Tabaac et al., 2022; Blair et al., 2022; Pansich and Tam, 2020; Tosh and Carson, 2016; Bosch, 2019; Woldestadik et al., 2019; Adams et al. 2023). The result is a blatant form of re-victimisation and institutional violence that would impact the sexual and reproductive health and rights of millions of women and people with vaginas around the world. This article aims to carry out a systematic review of the scientific literature from European intersectional feminist anthropology on the re-victimisation and institutional violence perpetrated by health/medical services towards women and people with vaginas with pelvic pain who have suffered or may have suffered sexual violence throughout their lives.