Lissa Rankin, M.D. and I are sitting in a tea shop talking about vaginas. Of course, with all the eavesdroppers, she uses a more tactful term, like coochie. While I've often debated the mysteries of the female body with friends and pornstars, Rankin is by far the most educated person I've ever discussed vaginas with. As a man who is obsessed with vaginas, I have plenty of questions, or I did until I began reading Rankin's new book, What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend.
Rankin worked as a full-time gynecologist until the beginning of 2006, when a series of family misfortunes made her reexamine her priorities. She quit her job and moved with her family to the country to be a full-time mom, artist and writer. Rankin wrote an unpublished memoir about her decision to leave medicine as well as a published book entitled Encaustic Art. She also started the website OwningPink.com, which is dedicated to celebrating and reclaiming femininity. After two years away from the medical field, she began seeing patients again, but through a more holistic approach in which she spends an hour with each patient instead of seeing two patients every 15 minutes. What’s Up Down There? is the first of many mainstream efforts by Rankin to redefine how we talk and think about coochies.
This article appears in Jul 7-13, 2011.