New context, new content—Rethinking genital anatomy in textbooks

Abstract

It has been widely claimed that reductions in allocated teaching time and the widespread implementation of short-cut teaching methodologies have led to a shortfall in anatomy knowledge among graduating doctors. This decline in knowledge is evident in the failure of anatomy content to prepare graduates for contemporary clinical practice. The implications for postgraduate surgical training are addressed in the numerous extracurricular anatomy courses available to surgical candidates. This paper focuses on genital diversity and its relevance to non-surgical graduates, thus highlighting another potential impact of this knowledge shortfall on frontline clinic consultations. As the gender revolution and female genital cosmetic surgery industry flourish, nothing in contemporary anatomy textbooks addresses issues of diversification of female genitalia nor gives medical graduates a realistic view of what is normal regarding female genital appearance.