Health Beyond the Blog: Rachel E Gross’s “Vagina Obscura”

Exploring the Unknowns of Female Genitalia in Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage

by Ananya Dash

The female body and its inner workings have been considered a mystery for centuries. The bottom of the ocean, the surface of Mars, and even penises were also thought to be full of secrets at one point, but that did not stop us from mapping them. Why, then, do we know so little about the female body, especially vaginas? Rachel E. Gross searches for answers in her book Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage. 

Gross recalls her own foray into the subject in the prologue. Her doctor prescribed her boric acid, also known as rat poison, as a last resort for prolonged intense vaginal itching. The lack of a better treatment options led her to explore the science of vaginas — only to find out about our scarcity of knowledge. Scientists have historically considered these “shame parts” to be “uninteresting” and “embarrassing” to study. Gross instead wants to inform and empower her readers about their bodies.

Gross points out existing inequities in who gets to ask research questions. “The marginalization of women’s bodies from science is largely due to the marginalization of women from science,” she says. Female bodies have only been valued in research for reproduction, reduced to incubators for babies. Yet, vaginas, vulvas, and uteruses impact women’s health beyond labor and delivery. Gross and Vagina Obscura thus take us on a journey to learn from women’s health advocates and those changing the narrative of female bodies in scientific research. 

Every chapter of Vagina Obscura is dotted with stories, ranging from ancient philosophers to present-day scientists. Gross transports her readers to Europe for the story of a French princess who travelled to Vienna to get an experimental surgery aimed at sexual pleasure. We then visit Australia to meet with Dr. Helen O’Connell for an in-depth lesson on the clitoris and its close ties with the vagina. 

We are reminded on how women’s bodies are treated, despite the animated storytelling about change. For instance, we meet women from Mali who have undergone a drastic form of traditional female genital cutting that removes the clitoris. Still, Gross’s outlook remains hopeful, as demonstrated by her pivot to focusing on to La Maison, a French charity that sponsors doctors helping women reclaim their sexuality.  

Finally, Vagina Obscura highlights “the effects of pigeonholing” in science. “The living world is rainbows within rainbows within rainbows, in an endless progression,” Joan Roughgarden, an evolutionary biologist, tells her. We hinder ourselves to discover new possibilities if we remain complacent with the male default. 

Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage can be found in bookstores near you or online on Amazon or Bookshop.org.