In my first appointment, C asked, “so what do you know about pelvic floor therapy?” I responded that I think it is more than just kegels, but also kind of kegels. She laughed and told me I was correct, adding that Mr. Kegel’s discovery is only part of the work.
“MR. Kegel?” I asked.
“Oh yes, Kegel was a man who ‘invented’ or ‘discovered’ a woman doing this pelvic floor contraction, and then he named the movement after himself. Typical,” replied C. I knew I liked her.
C is right, of course, that a cis-male doctor naming a movement performed by people with vaginas after himself is typical. Angela Garbes, mother, food writer and author of Like a Mother, explains in her book how understandings of the vagina-having body used to be local knowledge of those who had vaginas. Garbes says, “Medicine moved from a healing art practiced by various types of people in different classes to a profession requiring eight years of expensive training” (22, 2018). This training was exclusive to White, upper class men who admittedly had little to no knowledge of obstetrics and gynecology. Still, researchers and doctors insisted on trusting the new, elitist, sexist, racist Western medical system and eradicating localized, historical knowledge in the profession of midwives, who were often Black women (Garbes, 2018).
The knowledge doctors currently have came at the expense and pain of Black women whom doctors experimented on without consent or pain relief. It has taken years of failure, pain and exploitation to bring Western medicine to our current understanding of gynecology, obstetrics and pelvic floor therapy, yet we are still missing the knowledge gained through natural experiences of our vagina-having ancestors. Garbes (2018) notes that today men continue to dominate the medical profession, holding the responsibility of caring for women and vagina-having people.
Dr. Arnold Kegel was such a man in the field of gynecology in the mid-twentieth century. The Harvard Medical School website claims kegel (they capitalize, but I refuse to) exercises were “developed” by Dr. Kegel in the 1940s “as a nonsurgical way to prevent women from leaking urine” (Harvard Health Publishing, 2019). The article adds that these exercises can also help men who experience similar issues.
When you Google the good doctor, most results only mention his name in passing as the “developer” of the exercises and then try to teach you how to do them or about their benefits. I want to know how Dr. Kegel “developed” a natural movement that people of all sexes and genders do to prevent gas from passing or hold in pee. The exercise regime has specific positions, timing and recommendations for optimal results in increasing use of the pelvic floor muscles, but really the movement is nothing unique.
Garbes (2018) reminded me that most parts of pregnancy and childbirth are not unique. I try to tell myself when I hear horror stories of traumatic births and fistulas (which are, of course, very real and detrimental), that I would not be the first to navigate these experiences. People have been giving birth like, forever. Pregnancy only recently became a medical condition to be monitored and treated by doctors, and in some places it still isn’t. Realizing that people who have given birth before me hold powerful strength and knowledge has been reassuring. If they can do it, so can I. And if they can do it, maybe they can help me. I’m confident they can help me more than a male gynecologist can (no offense to male gynecologists — one delivered me, actually — but also what the fuck are you doing).
Garbes, A (2018). Like a Mother.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/bladder-and-bowel/step-by-step-guide-to-performing-kegel-exercises
