Fear of the smear: why young women won’t take the test

WHILE AMBLING AROUND my ’hood, I bump into my 20-something neighbour Lauren. She’s going somewhere, filled with nervous purpose. ‘You good?’ I ask. ‘Smear test,’ she says. ‘Ouf. Bad luck.’ I prepare to toddle off for a coffee or a bitch, or whatever the day throws my way. ‘Wait!’ she calls after me. ‘Is it awful?’ I look at her wide, wide eyes, realise she’s petrified. My heart breaks. ‘God, no!’ I say. ‘It’s just, y’know: not the most fun.’ It turns out this will be Lauren’s first smear. It also turns out she has no proper idea of what one entails - just a sense it’s really, really bad. No one else she knows has had one: it’s not something young women do any more, as a decade-long decline…

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Grazia (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 840

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