Leaving No-Women’s-Land

This week’s election, in addition to deciding the next president of the United States, included ballot measures in 10 states intended to restore or protect abortion rights. Seven of them passed, reflecting many voters’ opposition to government interference in women’s reproductive health choices. But even as reproductive rights have had some victories, another aspect of women’s well-being is often neglected: women’s sexual health.

Because it can be an uncomfortable topic for politicians, clinicians, and teachers, there is a dearth of sexual health research and knowledge—a “no-women’s-land.” Yet, as Juliana (Jewel) Kling, MD, MPH, MACP, MSCP, IF , Sara Hill Collina , and Lindy Elkins-Tanton argue, “now is a crucial moment for women’s health research to break this cycle—both by ensuring that research priorities reflect the importance of women’s sexual health and by finally incorporating sexuality into medical education and practice.”

Today the future of recent federal efforts to invest more in women’s health is uncertain. To ensure that the topic receives the research attention it deserves, Kling, Collina, and Elkins-Tanton propose concrete steps for how “the research community and medical establishment [can] begin reframing women’s sexual health as a subject for research and investment.”

Read more about the need to prioritize women’s sexual health in research agendas, health care worker training, and care protocols.