Half the world has a clitoris. Why don’t doctors study it?

If there was one thing Gillian knew, it was that she did not want a hole punch anywhere near her genitals.

So when, in 2018, a gynecologist recommended a vulval biopsy to check for signs of cancer, she hesitated. The doctor suspected that the whitish patch of skin that Gillian had found next to her clitoris was lichen sclerosus, a skin condition that is usually benign. To Gillian, a registered nurse, taking a chunk…