This is the story of Manon, Lisa, Elisabeth, Djihène, Laura or even Eloïse, Kelly, Cornélia and Margaux. Nine women whose common point is to suffer from endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory hormone-dependent gynecological disease which begins with the first period and subsides at menopause. One in ten women of childbearing age are affected, or around 2 million in France. This pathology is characterized by the presence of endometrial cells which migrate abnormally, during the menstrual cycle, towards the genitals (ovaries or vagina) and sometimes the rectum, colon, bladder, etc.
And then, there is Rose, alias Nathalie André, a journalist from Brest Telegram who was also very interested in obstetric violence. She decides to launch a call for testimonials on Facebook. In twenty-four hours, she received 1,055 responses. She then sets out to meet these women who do not or no longer want to keep silent.
At the arrival, Endogirls is a graphic account of the journalist illustrated by Violette Suquet, “an investigation without taboos” on a subject that has remained ignored for too long by doctors, due to lack of sufficient training, but also, the author emphasizes, because of ambient sexism and less good care of women’s health. Aren’t these a little “cozy”, “hysterical” or “crazy” ? And, on the men’s side, how “this girl problem concerns us guys” ? In an interview, the French doctor Martin Winckler, now based in Canada, and who has devoted a long part of his life to women’s health, corroborates this observation.
Expert words
Each of the nine chapters deals with a problem embodied by one of these Endogirls. Thus, Manon and diagnostic wandering – on average, ten years pass between the appearance of symptoms and the identification of the disease –; Lisa and the unbearable pain she has to endure every month when her period comes; Laura and the negative impact of endometriosis on her daily professional life (many women are forced to leave their jobs and turn to self-employment). There is also Elisabeth, suffering from dyspareunia (pain felt during sexual intercourse), who talks about her ordeal. According to the Endovie investigationmade public in December 2021, 88% of women surveyed said they suffered from dyspareunia and more than one in two (55%) came to fear the report.
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