Internalized ableism is when you direct all those feelings and beliefs our society holds about disabled people at yourself, but I don’t think you necessarily have to be disabled to experience it.
Yeast infections are so common for folks with vulvas that you’re statistically more “normal” if you have had a yeast infection than if you’ve never had one, yet nearly 70% of people with vulvas are embarrassed when they have one, and less then half would feel comfortable telling a friend.
Being chronically ill is also one of my biggest motivators for becoming a sex blogger (my other reasons were a love of sex and obsession with sex toys!) Even before vulva pain was an issue for me, I had so many questions from problems I would run into that not even google had good answers to—and I realized that I couldn’t possibly be the only person looking for answers. I love sex, but I’m also a person living with chronic illness, and it’s had an enormous impact on my sex life—so I’m going to keep talking about it so hopefully the next time someone goes looking for answers they’ll be able to find them.