‘Love Your Gusset!’ campaign urges women and teenage girls to get to grips with their pelvic health
Two national charities are launching a social media campaign, ‘Love your Gusset!’, to empower women and teenage girls to look after their pelvic health, and support around 9 million women and teenage girls1 who put up with the symptoms of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) – commonly known as a ‘weak bladder’.
The campaign by the Bladder & Bowel Community and ERIC (Education & Resources for Improving Childhood Continence) aims to raise greater awareness about the prevention and treatment of stress incontinence, which affects 1 in 3 women and is particularly prevalent in women under 55.
Women and teenage girls are being urged to get to know and love their ‘gusset’, or pelvic floor. This area of a woman’s body contains, from front to back, a woman’s clitoris (sexual organ), urethra (tube from the bladder), vagina (birth canal) and anus (back passage). A woman’s gusset is unique to her and it’s important to understand how it works and what is – and isn’t – normal.
The campaign is highlighting that stress urinary incontinence, or a weak bladder, is not normal and you don’t need to put up with it. One international study of women2 highlighted that more than 60% of women with SUI had not contacted a doctor as they did not feel it was enough of a problem to bother with. The condition is frequently associated with feelings of embarrassment and shame.
Many young women and teenage girls are embarrassed about talking to their partners, friends and the medical profession about their symptoms and are suffering in silence not knowing where to turn for help. SUI can have a profound impact on a woman’s social life, including exercise, leisure activities and sexual enjoyment, in short, it can seriously affect quality of life. There are a number of ways to manage or even cure SUI completely, so we urge women and teenage girls to call our confidential Helpline for clinical advice or talk to their GP.
