Living Breathing Medicine Podcast – Prioritizing Sexual Health with Dr. Rachel Rubin
In the final episode of the Living Breathing Medicine Podcast, Season 2, Dr. Rachel Rubin chats with Dr. Cecily Havert and Dr. Natasha Beauvais about her groundbreaking work in women’s sexual health. A urologist and sexual medicine specialist, Dr. Rubin explores the value of creating safe spaces to break the stigma around sexual health. At the core of her work lies a deep passion for human connection and a drive to alleviate the immense suffering she has uncovered in this often neglected field.
Event Highlights
Learning the Full Story
Dr. Rubin opens the podcast with a powerful story about a menopausal female patient who came into her office in a state of great medical distress. By creating a compassionate, safe space to explore the patient’s full story, Dr. Rubin was able to uncover the root causes of the patient’s suffering. This approach to sexual health is just as rare as it is essential. Sexual health—particularly women’s sexual health—is often ignored completely. Patients are taught to feel shame about their bodies and ignore their pain.
The Power of Vulnerability
So what does it look like to shift the narrative? “I am a magician in two ways,” Dr. Rubin explains. “Number one, I spend time with people. And number two, I genuinely care about their quality of life. I want to hear their story.” By asking the questions that other providers don’t dare to ask—about sexual histories, trauma, libido, body image—Dr. Rubin allows patients to safely unveil the burdens they’re carrying. This vulnerability facilitates human connection on a much deeper level, and it often reveals the answers to medical questions that have gone unanswered for decades.
Dreams for a Brighter Future
Dr. Rubin has received an outpouring of interest in her work, both from patients and the media. Her launch into a more public light has made it painfully clear that the centuries-long neglect of women’s sexual health has left huge gaps in medicine. People are suffering and need a radically different level of support than they have received in the past! So where do we go from here? “There are no dream police,” Dr. Rubin reminds us. Her dream? To be at the forefront of the burgeoning sexual health movement, to see the field expand and thrive and change lives.