Gynopedia – the site that helps you find tampons in Seoul, an LGBT-friendly gynecologist in Bangkok or the morning after pill in Lima now offers sexual and reproductive health information specifically for the people of Yangon.
But this great resource comes with great responsibility. Gynopedia is a wiki, so it is up to the residents of each city to keep it fresh, relevant and valuable.
“Gynopedia was inspired by my personal challenges as a female traveler,” creator Lani Fried told Coconuts Yangon. “I have encountered difficulty when trying to access safe and effective women’s health care around the world, especially in terms of understanding the laws, social stigmas and cultural taboos. Furthermore, affordability has also been a concern, as travel insurance usually does not cover sexual and reproductive care.”
For these reasons, Fried established Gynopedia in July 2016. The site has since grown to include city pages for over 50 countries around the world.
According to the Yangon page: “You can obtain many forms of contraception (birth control), including pills, injectables and IUDs. Emergency contraception (the morning after pill) is also widely available over-the-counter at most pharmacies and some drug stores. In Myanmar, a prescription is not required for emergency contraception.”
This comes as a pleasant surprise to some Yangon residents.
“There is a lot of conflicting advice online about what to get and where to get it, so I’m relieved to have a source to look to that provides a valuable and honest overview,” said McKenna Kemp, an American immigrant in Yangon working as a graphic designer.
Kelly Tuppen, a British international school teacher in Yangon, said: “It’s good to have the information all in one place, as it’s usually passed on by word of mouth.”
The Yangon page also offers information on local stigmas associated with menstruation, pregnancy, STIs and abortion, as well as some instructions on how to navigate these stigmas, though there is clear room for Yangon residents to fill in the gaps.
Gynopedia has no ads or sponsors. Nonetheless, Fried spends time maintaining the site every day, which includes moderating, researching and writing content. But even the pages that seem full of information are not “complete”, she says. One reason is that each city page needs constant updating. But there’s also another reason.
“There’s a huge problem with female contribution to wikis. I don’t remember the exact number, but general estimates are that like 90 percent of contributors to Wikipedia are men. There are many reasons why women feel discouraged from contributing to wikis, but I’m hoping over time to find ways of encouraging more women to directly contribute,” Fried said.
There are already signs that this will change as Gynopedia gains popularity. In addition to the long list of resources Fried has consulted for content, she says much of the information on the site comes from its beneficiaries themselves.
“I find a lot of information from women sending me Facebook messages and emailing me,” she said. This direct contact with women around the world is essential to the location-specific service Gynopedia aims to provide.
(Here’s a video explaining how to add content to Gynopedia.)
The response to Gynopedia in Yangon has been overwhelmingly positive. When Fried announced the Yangon page in the Facebook group Yangon Connection earlier this week, one commenter wrote: “Very great initiative, much needed indeed!”
As of now, all of the entries on the site, including the Yangon page, are in English. This is because of Gynopedia’s origin as a resource for people in unfamiliar surroundings. However, Fried emphasizes that the site is a resource by and for its users.
“I would love to include pages in other languages. If anybody is interested in translating any of the pages, I completely support the effort.”
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