Women’s Health – Dr. Tooni

My passion for helping women is truly is what has carried me this far within the medical field.

Promoting equality for all and striving for world peace have always seemed like no-brainers to me. I believe everyone deserves a fair chance in life, and that we should all live and let live. It absolutely makes my blood boil when people are treated unfairly simply based on race, sex, orientation, socioeconomic status, or any number of other factors beyond their control. Fighting for women’s rights particularly has always been a passion of mine.

As an Asian female, I do personally experience prejudice, but I consider myself one of the luckier ones in that I had a stable two-parent and double-income family, and did not have any particularly traumatic experiences, such as sexual violence or exploitation.

I was a bit different from the average girl, however, which may have made me less of a target. I was a “tomboy,” not understanding why I had to do certain things just because I was female. I saw shaving my legs or squeezing my feet into high heels as at best, silly extra tasks when there were so many other things I wanted to be doing with my time instead, and at worst, downright unhealthy habits.

Why do we have to conform to societal standards of “beauty” in order to feel good about ourselves? Why are girls chastised for calling out in class and less so boys? Why are so many more females suffering from body image issues? Why do double standards exist?

I discovered just how deeply I felt about women’s rights when I had the chance to discuss these issues and even perform my first speculum exam on a volunteer as part of the FemSex semester-long workshop in college. It was an amazing and life-changing experience that made me excited for the first time about moving onto medical school.

I tried on the gynecologist hat, followed by being a general primary care doctor who focused on women’s care, and I am proud of the good I was able to do, the myths I was able to dispel, and the lives I was able to help. Though I can’t see myself as a full-time doctor, I care a lot about this population and this purpose of striving for true gender equality. I want to share the moments I enjoyed and the valuable information I learned, and hope these can be useful and educational to both patients and providers.

So here I go tacking another project on to this site – this side of Toni Liu, “Dr. Tooni,” will cover various women’s health related topics through cartoons. (I don’t have purple hair, but I wish I did!) I’m figuring out how to use a tablet and work a website, so thanks for bearing with me!

Also if you have any topics or questions you’d like me to cover, please feel free to message me!

Below is the first question I tackled, that sparked this entire project idea! “What is a Pap Smear?“