Seven years ago, I started keeping notes on patient stories I kept coming back to, including a woman who hadn't been able to have sex in seven years, and a 68-year-old cancer survivor who wanted her life back. Somewhere along the way, I ended up writing about myself too, including something I've never told you before. Those stories became my new book, Brown Girls' Disease?, out October 6th. The title comes from a term I once heard used in a hospital to dismiss South Asian women with vaginismus, and I'm reclaiming it. Culture, religion, and ethnicity do shape how we experience sex, but they're context, not a diagnosis, and this book is for anyone who's ever been dismissed, not just South Asian women.

Highlights:

• Why "Brown Girls' Disease" was originally a dismissive hospital term, and why I'm reclaiming it for a book meant for everyone.
• The patient stories behind the book.
• A personal story about my own experience with vaginismus that I've never shared publicly before.
• Why culture, religion, and shame shape how we experience sex, and why that context matters without becoming a diagnosis.

Book Tour Dates (as mentioned in this episode)

• October 6 — New York City (book pub day)
• October 8 — Chicago, IL (The Veronica Beard)
• October 15 — Charlotte, NC (hosted by Dr. Sasha Davenport)
• October 17 — Worcester, MA (UMass OBGYN Department 50th anniversary)
• October 18 — Menopalooza, Chicago, IL (with Midlife Upgrade
• October 20 — Los Angeles, CA (The Womb)
• October 21-24 — San Diego, CA (The Menopause Society annual meeting)
• October 25 — Cleveland, OH (bookstore event, plus a lunch and learn at the OBGYN/Sexual Medicine department the following day)
• October 28 — Oak Brook, IL (The Book Loft, book signing) ■
• November 11-15 — ISSWSH Fall Course
• December 10 — Palo Alto, CA

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