Careers related to women's sexuality and health?

August 16, 2016 6:44 PM

Lately, I've noticed that I am very passionate about things having to do with sexuality, especially women’s sexuality and health. What careers exist related to this passion? So far I've thought of a nurse practitioner specializing in women's health, a certified nurse midwife, a pelvic physical therapist, an ob/gyn, and an industrial designer specializing in sexuality or women's health (if that job even exists). What are these careers like on a day-to-day basis? What other careers relating to sexuality are out there? Would any of these careers work for me? Snowflakes inside.

I am currently halfway through an apprenticeship in a skilled mechanical trade that pays well, is reasonably interesting, and could serve as a backdoor to an engineering career (no BSME required) if I want it to. I plan to finish my apprenticeship (2 more years), because licensure in an in-demand field where no one cares about resume gaps is a fantastic financial safety net. Also, I mostly don't hate this career. Sometimes I even enjoy it. And it pays pretty well.

Before I got into construction, I had trouble not leaving jobs. I was a youth worker for homeless teenagers, a caseworker for homeless families, an organic chemistry research assistant, a computer vision research assistant, a theater tech, a press writer for state-level Democrats, a municipal policy consultant for major American cities, and an organic farm worker. …and I am only 28 years old. Some of these jobs were internships or summer fellowships with defined expiration dates, but others were career-type jobs that I dumped after 3 to 6 months. I am very good at getting jobs, but get bored easily and leave them. I did successfully complete my B.A. in Statistics (gritting my teeth the whole time), so I’m not completely incapable of finishing things. And I’ve survived in construction for 3 years now, partly because the steep learning curve and the frequent change of jobsites has kept me interested, but… I’m not convinced I want to dedicate my life to it.

A few months ago, I had an appointment scheduled with a new gynecologist. I was dreading it, because the last gyn I saw at this particular medical facility was awkward, vaguely sex-negative, and refused to order any STI tests because I wasn’t a “high risk” client. My new gyn, a nurse-practitioner midwife, was the complete opposite. She was amazing. She was respectful. She listened to me about what tests I wanted done.

That doctor’s visit hit me like a lightning bolt. I wondered, could I dedicate my life to working with women and their bodies? I thought about all the ways in which this makes sense: I’m excited about sexuality. I’m excited about feminism. I have lived through sexual violence, and supported others in similar situations. I occasionally TA a full-force ("model-mugging" type) self-defense class for men and women. Once I finish night school, I would like to volunteer as a sexual assault crisis advocate. I enjoy talking with folks respectfully about graphic or personal topics that might make other people squeamish. I think genitalia are fascinating. I am kink-aware. Basically, I am passionate about sexuality and bodies — all bodies, but women’s especially. I want to help celebrate people and their bodies, remove shame and stigma, and keep folks healthy.

What careers should I consider? I would like to pursue a full-time career, though at some point it’s possible I’ll want to work 20-30 hours a week and volunteer, or have a secondary career for variety, or have kids and spend more time with them.

So far I've thought of:
* Nurse Practitioner, either in Women's Health or a Certified Nurse Midwife. (Concern: Is the work very repetitive? Would I get bored?)
* Pelvic Physical Therapist. A pelvic PT called in to the Savage Lovecast recently and I thought she sounded awesome. I had never heard of the speciality before. I’m aware I’d be working with both men and women, and I would be happy with that. If anyone is a pelvic PT, I’d *love* to hear more information about your career.
* Industrial Designer in some sort of women’s health or sex-toy-related industry. I have no idea what qualifications this requires, or if it’s even practical. The financial-stability-and-licensure part of my brain thinks PT would really be a safer bet. Also, I’m really more excited about working directly with women. Does industrial design involve working directly with potential end users?
* Ob/Gyn Physician: I really like the idea of being able to provide full gynecological care to women, do surgeries, and perform abortions, but I am fairly sure I am not cut out for the intensity of medical school and residency.

I'd also like to work part-time or volunteer as a self-defense instructor and/or a sexual assault crisis advocate, but I don't think of those as potential full-time careers.

One caveat: Working full-time and attending apprenticeship night school leaves me without time and energy for things like taking additional classes, job shadowing, volunteering, or the like. If I still want to change careers after I finish my apprenticeship, I will have the money to take a year off from work and do these sorts of things. Which reminds me — how does one set up shadowing for a medical profession?

Thank you! I really appreciate any advice and experience you all have to share.

posted by cnidaria to Work & Money (14 answers total)

Doula. Prenatal massage specialist.

Not exactly genitalia, strictly speaking, but lactation consultant. You'd be a breast expert instead, but it'd be refreshing and awesome to see an LC who seemed concerned about women's physical and mental health rather than breastfeeding at any cost.
posted by the marble index at 6:57 PM on August 16, 2016

I'm not sure where you are but you could volunteer teaching "Our Whole Lives" (once you're trained in the curriculum at a UU church. That might give you an insight as to whether you'd like teaching about sexual health full time (I love teaching, I don't love some of the curricula I have to use which aren't as comprehensive or sex positive as I'd like).
posted by raccoon409 at 7:09 PM on August 16, 2016

I would advise against lactation consultant. The breast is not a sexual organ. LCing is about babies, not about sex. Sure, you could find a sexual angle there, but so you could as, idk, a nail designer or a podiatrist.
posted by The Toad at 7:23 PM on August 16, 2016

You could look into being some form of counselor (e.g. a licensed social worker) specializing in issues about sexuality. Searching for "violence prevention center" brings up a variety of places that seem like they might have jobs up your alley--in practice they often deal with a lot more than crisis (or even abusive) situations. A college campus sex education office might also be worth checking out (you'd likely be working on policies, or working directly with students, rather than doing traditional teaching).

Another direction, if you're excited about helping more medical practitioners be as awesome as your midwife, is to become a standardized or simulated patient for gynecological exams. I'm not sure how easy that is to turn into full-time work, though!
posted by cogitron at 7:36 PM on August 16, 2016

I think your enthusiasm is awesome, but one thing you didn't mention in your post: do you like medicine and science and anatomy and studying these things for hours and the rest of your life? Because in your journey, you'll find that you'll be spending time on physiology, pathophys, pharmacology, patient care, etc. You already mentioned shadowing--that is HUGE. I also love raccoon409's advice and cogitron's advice. Our standardized patients in med school for the gyn exam were wonderful and played a huge role in teaching future doctors.
posted by namemeansgazelle at 7:41 PM on August 16, 2016

What about being a sex educator -- helping women overcome all the shame they're taught to feel about their bodies, and correcting the misinformation about sexuality that we're fed all our lives? There are lots of ways to go about this: google Emily Naboski, Oh Joy Sex Toy, and Allison Moon.
posted by a strong female character at 7:47 PM on August 16, 2016

The most positive experience that kicked off my own ability to be sex positive was an awesome Human Sexuality college course teacher. She was an adjunct who was also a sex therapist and was super awesome. Maybe some form of teaching especially around college age would be awesome. It's when young adults are really forming relationships and exploring their sexual identity. My college campus GYN and her nurse were also really nice but I only saw them when I had too - thus not as helpful in shaping my experience at that age. Now my GYN and GP are really awesome but again that positive experience in college was the most impactful.
posted by Crystalinne at 8:02 PM on August 16, 2016

I teach the gyn exam to healthcare students, and it's an awesome job I think your enthusiasm would be a great fit for. Basically we catch students while they're impressionable and try to mould them into your NP. It is quite part-time, but our school at least pays well enough that it works out fine for me, especially since there's plenty of extra time for taking on additional work. If you happen to be close enough to Madison, WI that you'd be interested, please contact me!
posted by teremala at 8:03 PM on August 16, 2016

Have you considered becoming a psychologist, focusing on sexuality, women's health and empowerment? There are so many people taught to feel shame and embarrassment because of their gender and sexuality. Focusing on the mental aspect through counseling and psychology would help so many women (and men too). It would also allow you to work with a broader audience due to the spectrum of people's experiences and wouldn't limit you to just hospital based work.
posted by floweredfish at 8:03 PM on August 16, 2016

What about a gynecological training volunteer? I don't think you can make enough money at it for it to be your full time job, but it could be a very fulfilling part time job on top of a more lucrative day job. I had a friend (not the author of this article, though also a librarian) who did this and found it enormously satisfying to help doctors provide better care to their patients.
posted by MsMolly at 8:39 PM on August 16, 2016

Maybe something with clinical trials aimed at womens issues? I am tangentially involved with AIDS research, specifically the data collection & statistics side of things. Much of it is aimed at interventions with women, such as vaccines or microbicides. There are lots of varied jobs behind the scenes: project managers, data specialists, statistical programmers, biostatisticians, etc. I've started recommending biostatistics to people unsure of a career path; it only takes a master's and they are ALWAYS in demand.
posted by sapere aude at 8:55 PM on August 16, 2016

How about a Masters in Public Health? I know someone who used hers to be a sexuality educator at the health clinic of a huge university.
posted by mareli at 3:30 AM on August 17, 2016

namemeansgazelle: That's a good point. I loved the A&P we covered when I got my EMT-Basic, and I also enjoyed general chemistry, organic chemistry, and the other science courses I took in college. My favorite class was probably comparative biomechanics (not human-related, unfortunately, but I did do a cool research project on the tensile strength of aquatic silks). I know I'm not cut out for academia, because I'm not willing to relocate for jobs or deal with the publish-or-perish culture. I also doubt I could make it through medical school and residency, mostly because I get sick when I don't sleep 7 hours a night, and I'm already pretty sick of the frequent days during this five-year apprenticeship where I leave the house at 4:30am and don't get home until 9:30pm. I do think I could make it through three years of the physical therapy PhD -- it seems intense, but not the soul-killing grind of medical residency. But I'd definitely want to shadow and talk to more people before making that call.

A few of you recommended being a standardized gyn patient. I have friends who are pelvic models/standardized patients. I think it's a really cool part-time gig but I'm looking for something that's more a professional career, like I have currently. If I changed my mind and decided to go for a couple part-time jobs instead of something full-time, being a standardized gyn patient is definitely on my list.

sapere aude: That's interesting. How do I even find out more about this? I can code a little, but I definitely don't want to code all day long. But it sounds like there are options other than just statistical programming.
posted by cnidaria at 12:15 PM on August 17, 2016

In thinking about how you might combine a skilled mechanical trade and a passion for serving women, this struck me: In my life in general, I go out of my way to surround myself with people who I can see eye to eye with, but still I've often found myself working with tradespeople who I don't feel fully comfy with or who were actively creepy, because I couldn't find alternatives.

If your trade is amenable to this, what about running a small business made of women who do your trade? It could have a greater chance of staying exciting because it would combine the work you're already doing with the constant learning (and many-hats nature) of running a small business. And I bet you'd be of interest to women clients. It is not sexuality-related, just an additional thought.
posted by kalapierson at 6:35 PM on August 18, 2016