Stirrups (not the horse kind)

[slemslempike]

When you go for a smear test (or similar), are there stirrups?

I've usually heard Americans talking about stirrups for such incidents, while I'm under the impression that I've only heard British women refer to them for ante-natal use. When I go, I just have to do that frogs' legs thing (which is awkward if the table is against the wall on one side).

I was watching Jo Brand on Live at the Apollo, and she talked about stirrups as if they would of course be used for a smear. Have I just always had lo-tech medical care? I don't feel like I have had a particularly sheltered outlook, at least four medical professionals have investigated my nethers.

Comments

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

I found Naomi Wolf's Misconceptions pretty good for this sort of info (though, obv., it's specifically about pregnancy and childbirth, rather than pregnancy more generally) - I know a lot of people don't get on with her, and friends who are mothers have dismissed the book for not telling them anything they didn't already know, but from my non-mother point of view, I found it really interesting.