Dr. Jen Gunter, buster of vagina myths, is coming to North Van 

Eating sugar doesn’t cause a yeast infection; organic tampons are a scam; and vaginal steaming will not clean your uterus — it may even harm your body.

These nuggets of information that dispel popular myths are from Dr. Jen Gunter, a Canadian obstetrician and gynecologist, who is the author of the ‘The Vagina Bible: The vulva and the vagina – separating the myth from the medicine’. She has made it her life’s mission to dispel harmful myths about sexual health of women, old wives’ tales rendered more pernicious because of the taboo.

Called Twitter’s resident gynecologist for her witty advice on women’s sexual health. Dr. Gunter is coming to North Vancouver to speak at the BlueShoe Centre for Performing Arts at Capilano University on Tuesday, September 24, from 8 am to 9:30 pm. Tickets range from $10 to $12.

Originally from Winnipeg, Gunter moved to the US to complete a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Kansas. She describes herself as a one of the fiercest advocates for women’s health.

After a book about premature birth, she turned her attention to women’s sexual health and the misconceptions about vagina, using two decades of experience to impart witty wisdom on Twitter, answer questions people were too afraid to ask.

Her book, ‘The Vagina Bible’, is an attempt to allay fears and debunk misinformation about vaginal health, described by the publisher as a “comprehensive, accessible antidote to the maelstrom of misinformation surrounding female sexuality”.

Gunter also has a CBC digital series, Jensplaining, where she presents her fun, factual takes on sex, science and social media.

She also writes two regular columns for The New York Times, called The Cycle (monthly) and You Asked (weekly), and has written for a broad range of outlets, from academic publications to The New Republic, Chatelaine, Self, The Cut and many more.

In 2017, she made news after she wrote an open letter criticising Gwyneth Paltrow for promoting jade eggs on Goop as a way to improve sexual satisfaction. She has also taken on other wellness trends and fads related to women’s sexual health.

One of her goals, she says, is to build a better medical internet, where people can feel empowered about their health with correct information, especially related to such a sensitive subject.

“I got interested in online snake oil and dubious science when my own children were born extremely prematurely. I found separating the facts from the fiction difficult and I am a doctor, so I started thinking if this is hard for me how does everyone else manage?”