What is “pelvic health”?

A broad approach to defining “pelvic health” - past and present:

“Pelvic health” issues have historically been - and in many cases, continue to be - explicitly linked to reproduction.


The Pelvic Health and Public Health in Twentieth-Century Canada (PH | PH) project team aims to challenge this framing, focusing on historical and contemporary experiences of often invisible, feminized, and chronic pelvic health conditions, “everyday” pelvic health issues, and routine gynecological care.

The PH | PH project is interested in:

  • Pelvic Health Experiences

    Do you (or did you) have a uterus or reproductive organs classified as “female”? Did you experience an “everyday” or chronic pelvic health issue, or access pelvic health care anywhere in Canada, between 1970 and 2000?

    Our project explores experiences of pelvic health issues including (but not limited to) dysmenorrhea and menstrual pain, endometriosis, yeast infections, urinary tract infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, and vaginismus and sexual pain, as well as experiences of routine pap smears, cervical cancer screening, and pelvic floor physiotherapy.

  • Pelvic Health Activism

    Did you connect with others around your pelvic pain and/or pelvic health issues, and work towards promoting awareness, better treatment and access to gynecological care, or broader change in the area of “women’s health”?

    Our project aims to create a broad understanding of pelvic health activism between 1970 and 2000, looking at individual and collective efforts to improve the treatment of a range of pelvic health conditions, and the establishment of feminist, alternative, and collective models of care including women’s health centres.

  • Pelvic Health Care

    Were you a physician, nurse, midwife, physiotherapist, or health practitioner who provided pelvic health care in Canada between 1970 and 2000?

    Our project explores important changes in late-twentieth century Canadian gynecolgy and pelvic health care including changing attitudes and practices around routine pelvic examinations, shifts in cervical cancer screening, and the transformation and growth of a broad range of pelvic therapies during these decades.