When Women Know Something Is Wrong, But Medicine Doesn't Listen: Dr. Sameena Rahman's New Book Examines the Bias, Culture and Silence Behind Women's Sexual Health

Brown Girls' Disease? A Guide to Sexual Health and Empowerment Through a South Asian Lens challenges patients and clinicians to rethink how women's pain, sexuality and health concerns are understood

CHICAGO, Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- What happens when a woman knows something is wrong, but the medical system doesn't listen? That question is at the heart of Dr. Sameena Rahman's new book that releases today, titled, Brown Girls' Disease? A Guide to Sexual Health and Empowerment Through a South Asian Lens.

An OB-GYN, sexual medicine specialist and menopause expert, Dr. Rahman tackles the conversations that medicine has too often avoided, including painful sex, low libido, pelvic pain, persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD), menopause, trauma, cultural expectations and the impact of bias on women's health.

The book takes its provocative title from a disturbing comment Dr. Rahman heard during her medical training. A South Asian patient was experiencing such severe pelvic pain that she could not tolerate a pelvic examination. Rather than investigating the source of her pain, an attending physician dismissed her with the phrase "brown girls disease." For Dr. Rahman, that moment represents a much larger problem: What happens when clinicians make assumptions about a patient before taking the time to understand her experience?

"Women deserve to be heard before they are labeled," said Dr. Rahman. "Too often, symptoms involving sexuality, pain and reproductive health are minimized, psychologized or dismissed. My hope is that this book encourages women to advocate for themselves and encourages clinicians to slow down, listen and examine the assumptions we may bring into the exam room."

While the book is grounded in Dr. Rahman's experience as a South Asian woman and physician, the issues extend far beyond one culture. Women across racial and cultural backgrounds have long reported having their pain minimized, their sexual concerns dismissed and their symptoms attributed to stress or psychological causes rather than investigated.

For women of color, research has also highlighted the effects of chronic exposure to racism and structural stress on reproductive aging, a phenomenon researchers refer to as "weathering." These disparities underscore why culture, social conditions and bias cannot be separated from conversations about women's health.

Dr. Rahman asks readers to reconsider some of the messages women have been given for generations: that painful sex is simply something women should tolerate, that declining libido is an inevitable part of aging, that menopause symptoms should simply be endured, or that unexplained symptoms are "all in your head."

Her answer is not to suggest that every symptom has a simple explanation, but to ask a more fundamental question: What if we listened before we made assumptions?

Sometimes the Most Important Diagnostic Tool Is Time

A central theme of Brown Girls' Disease? is the importance of listening, particularly in sexual medicine. Many of the factors necessary to understand a patient's sexual health concerns emerge through a detailed medical history and conversation. But meaningful conversations require something increasingly difficult to find in modern medicine: time.

A 15-minute appointment may not provide enough space for a patient to feel safe discussing painful sex, trauma, libido changes, pelvic pain or other deeply personal concerns.

"Sometimes the diagnosis isn't in another lab test or another scan or another prescription," said Dr. Rahman. "Sometimes it is in something the patient has not yet had the courage, safety or space to talk about."

The book challenges clinicians to consider not only what medical training has taught them, but also what it may have left out… including the cultural assumptions and biases that can influence how patients are perceived and how their symptoms are interpreted.

It also gives women language and perspective to better understand their bodies, recognize when something does not feel right and advocate for the care they deserve.

A Book for Patients — and the Clinicians Who Care for Them

Brown Girls' Disease? is ultimately a call for a more thoughtful approach to women's sexual and reproductive health. Dr. Rahman encourages patients who have felt dismissed to recognize that their concerns are worthy of being heard, while challenging clinicians to look beyond assumptions and create space for honest conversations.

The book is particularly relevant for healthcare professionals working in OB-GYN, sexual medicine, menopause care, primary care and other areas of women's health, as well as anyone seeking to better understand the intersection of culture, sexuality, medicine and bias.

"Being heard may actually be what a patient needs before we can begin to understand what is happening," said Dr. Rahman. "We have a responsibility to ask better questions, listen more carefully and recognize that the patient's experience is an essential part of the diagnosis."

Brown Girls' Disease? A Guide to Sexual Health and Empowerment Through a South Asian Lens is available at major retailer book stores including Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

For more information, please visit www.thegsmcollective.com.

About Dr. Sameena Rahman

Dr. Sameena Rahman is an OB-GYN, sexual medicine specialist and menopause expert who is dedicated to changing the way women's sexual and reproductive health is understood and treated. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and founder of the GYN & Sexual Medicine Collective; a concierge women's health practice affiliated with Ms. Medicine. She is a Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH), a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner, host of Gyno Girl Presents: Sex, Drugs & Hormones, and a nationally recognized expert frequently featured in media on women's health, menopause and sexual medicine.

Brown Girls' Disease? A Guide to Sexual Health and Empowerment Through a South Asian Lens
By Sameena Rahman
Lioncrest Publishing; On-Sale Date:October 6, 2026
Price: $34.99 (hardcover) / $24.99 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1544550657

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SOURCE Dr. Sameena Rahman