GHFF2023 At Your Cervix
VOD and livestream
At Your Cervix (2022)
Directed by A'magine, 71 mins
UK Premiere
Festival VOD plus livestreamed screening and discussion: Tuesday 28 November
NB: this event is not accessible in the United States of America
At Your Cervix is the first documentary to expose the little-known practice of the non-consensual use of patients as practice dummies by the American medical education system. In an era when conversations about consent, reproductive justice and racial justice are paramount, it shines a light on the use of unconscious patients by medical students to practice pelvic examinations without the knowledge or consent of those patients.
The film goes inside OB/GYN medical education programmes and looks at the way their racist and sexist legacy of exploitation has created a culture of non-consent in gynecology. Starting with the inception of the OB/GYN profession, whose founder, Dr Marion Sims, experimented on vulnerable, enslaved Black women, this oppressive legacy continues. It is still commonplace for medical students to learn how to perform pelvic exams on anesthetized patients during surgery without their knowledge or consent.
At Your Cervix chronicles these unethical teaching practices and explores how they relate to the fact that most patients experience pelvic exams as painful, disempowering and re traumatizing. These practices persist despite repeated news exposés and the fact that a more ethical, effective and empowering teaching method is well-established.
Gynecological Teaching Associates (GTAs) are trained lay-people who use their own bodies to teach medical students the breast and pelvic exam, simultaneously becoming both consenting patient and clinical instructor. Through the eyes of a queer GTA, At Your Cervix shows us how gynecology - and medicine in general - could be empowering and transparent, with medical students learning side-by-side with trained teachers and consenting patients.
Panel discussion
After the livestream screening there will be a panel discussion with director A'Magine, producer Renee Renata Bergan, and Professor Stella Villarmea, co-author of the recent report on obstetric violence in Spain for the European Commission.
Tickets
You can access the film either on our festival VOD (watch window Mon 27 Nov - Thurs 30 Nov) and via our livestreamed event on Tuesday 28 November; the registration link for the livestream is in your VOD ticket confirmation email!
- Five-ticket pass: £22.95
- Three-ticket pass: £14.95
- Single ticket: £5.99
Three-ticket and five-ticket festival VOD passes here
Single tickets for At Your Cervix here
All VOD and livestream tickets are free for Global Health Film members