The Stitch-Up

Brought to you by Penguin.

Got endometriosis? You should have a baby!
Painful post-birth prolapse? Well, you had a baby.
Let down by doctors? Try our wellness candle!
Episiotomy scar? Why not trim your labia too?

It’s a stitch-up. And we demand better.

As Emma was being sewn up following the birth of her second child, the midwife paused, looked up and said the worst thing anyone has ever said to her: ‘Your vagina’s fallen out.’

After receiving a vague diagnosis of ‘prolapse’, she spent the next two years being shunted between specialists. The solutions on offer ranged from kegels to hysterectomy and even labia trimming. Some doctors simply shrugged and said there was nothing they could do.

Women around her spoke of similar experiences: mothers told that pain was the price of parenthood; trans women blamed for ‘wanting a vagina in the first place’; Black women disbelieved and dismissed; intersex men and women lied to by their doctors.

The mesh scandal that injured thousands. The ‘love doctor’ who performed nonconsensual vaginal surgeries. Over and over again, Emma heard stories of women in pain, bleeding, dying, failed by the professionals who were supposed to help them.

Medical misogyny kills, and leaves many more in agony, unable to live full lives. The Stitch-Up tells their stories, and calls for better research, healthcare options, language and treatment, arguing that being female should never be a death sentence.

Emma Szewczak 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025