Vagynism: My body doesn't let me have sex

My body doesn't let me have sex, and when I do, I feel like I'm stabbed.

Hannah van de Per is suffering from a painful disorder called vaginanism and has been reported by women worldwide.

This rare medical condition is an automatic reaction of the body to the fear of vaginal piercing.

I talked to a lot of women who suffer from the same thing. It's like we've all experienced the same thing... a feeling of loneliness”, she says.

In women who have this problem, vaginal muscles contract and they have no control over this process. Some women avoid sex because of this, while those with relationships feel piercing pain. Sometimes it's hard for these women to set up a tampon.

Twenty - year - old Hannah says that her first sexual experience was far more painful than she could imagine.

I always knew that losing my virginity would harm me. But I felt like someone had put a knife in my vagina and then turned it,” she says, the BBC says.

Some women say that they feel like someone pricks them with needles. Leyla Frodscham, gynecologist, says vaginanism is one of several remaining sexual taboos.

You worry about your first sexual relationship. We may all have a similar experience. But women with vaginanism can endure their whole life with such pain,” she says.

Vaginism can develop at any time in life. Some women discover that they suffer when they first try to have sex. Frodsham adds that religious education can play a role.

Some people grow up in a very religious environment and have no problem with it. However, there are those who are spongelike and absorb everything they hear. In traditional communities, there is a belief that on the first night of the marriage, sex will be painful and that the bloody trace on the sheet is evidence of virginity”, she says.

Hannah van de Per once said women don't like sex. I went to church school. We taught them there that sex usually leads to bloody situations, pregnancy, or a sexually transmitted disease. ”

Vaginism can also affect emotional life. I was afraid the partners would think I wasn't in love or that I wasn't physically attracted to”, explains Aisley Lin, another woman with the same condition.

Shame and taboo often prevent women from seeking help despite the fact that vagina is being treated.

During therapy, fear of insight is addressed as well. Various techniques are used as psychosexual counseling.

It's a kind of conversation therapy that helps you understand and change what you feel about your body”, says Vanessa Mackey, a gynecologist at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

Although she says that she has made much progress, Hannah admits that it is still difficult for her to have intimate relations.