10: The DSM

Tight Lipped

In 1991, Marjorie Wantz made headlines when she died through physician-assisted suicide. She had suffered for years with chronic vulvovaginal and pelvic pain. Marjorie hoped that an autopsy would prove what she’d insisted all along: that her pain was real. But, in the aftermath of her death, the medical community painted Marjorie’s condition as psychological, and imaginary.

Why did doctors still not believe Marjorie Wantz even after she took her own life to stop the pain? In today’s episode, we’re exploring how and why vulvovaginal pain became understood as a psychological issue. We hear from Hannah Srajer, who researched the development and evolution of “vaginismus” as a diagnosis over the last 100 years.