What bras, lotions and steam can and cannot do
As an embryologist who routinely consults with couples struggling to have a child, Dr Tanaya Narendra, 30, answers strange questions for a living. “Could eating a banana daily help me guarantee a son?” “Could the delay be because I am not manly enough?” (The answers, of course, are why; and of course not.)
As @dr_cuterus on Instagram, she has gathered a following of 1.8 million with her simple truth-telling and mythbusting. She receives messages that range from the heartbreaking (“My husband thinks my body is abnormal”) to the absurd (“Can I make my face brighter by massaging it with semen?”).
Her mission, lately — amid a new wave of products aimed at women’s “hygiene” — is keeping the uninformed safe. “It’s horrifying when a 14-year-old writes to me saying they have chemical burns after bleaching their genitals,” says the doctor from Allahabad.
And so she breaks down how bras cannot change the shape of a woman’s breasts; why creams cannot alter their size; and why chemical-laden “vaginal cleansers” are not doctor-recommended. She does it all with tact, empathy and humour. (“Your vagina is not a momo; it does not need steaming.”)
She has received one legal notice so far; the case has since been dropped. She often gets DMs from company representatives threatening to sue, but no one else has.
Meanwhile, she expanded her Instagram operation in 2022 and now has a team of three. “These are people with different backgrounds and sexual orientations, so they can help me create content that’s inclusive and can change the kind of healthcare I provide,” she says.
She has worked on projects with India’s union ministry of health and family welfare, and the World Health Organization (WHO), and is determined to use these and other non-commercial means to keep her work on Instagram going.
“It makes me very angry that the misinformation crisis is getting harder to fight,” she says. “But that only means it’s more important to keep fighting.”
Dr Narendra delivers her advice with tact, empathy and humour. ‘Your vagina is not a momo; it does not need steaming,’ she says.
It makes me very angry that the misinformation crisis is getting harder to fight. But that only means it’s more important to keep fighting. DR TANAYA NARENDRA