Diatribe: Things That Should Be Solved by Now

Written by Corinne Wan

For those who enjoy it and have the means, buying dorm decorations is one of the most anticipated and exciting aspects of starting college. Countless inspo videos and ads are shoved down the throats of soon-to-be freshmen, all hoping to perfect their curated yet original room. When I picked my bedding two summers ago, I was visualizing how cozy and warm it would be. I thought about how baby pink would add to my color scheme and which textures and materials I liked. What I didn’t envision was the arduous task of shaking my duvet down every week to distribute the feathers back toward my head, where they had migrated away from without my noticing.

As I stand on my ottoman, swinging my blanket around, getting my arm workout in for the day, I can’t help but think that there has to be a better solution to this. Pure elbow grease isn’t typically the most efficient way to do most things anymore because, as a society, we have worked tirelessly to eliminate as much inconvenience in our lives as possible. Yet I have no choice but to violently shake my blanket to prevent it from clumping at the bottom for the rest of eternity? Every solution I find online is a DIY, labor-intensive task that I feel like I shouldn’t have to deal with. My expectation for things to work exactly as I need them to has skyrocketed, because almost everything else has a contemporary fix or shortcut these days.

Come to think of it, there are a few more things that feel behind the times. Nail clippers, for instance. Why do the clippings have to fly all over the place? No matter how hard I try, there always seem to be pieces disappearing to spots where I will find them a week later. Why isn’t there a way to not have the shavings propelled in all directions by now? Why did we collectively decide to accept that?

You may object that there actually is a better option. After looking it up, there is one brand that seems to have addressed this. But those EDJY ones are $18, and I’ve never actually seen someone with them. Seven out of the ten products that came up when I simply searched “nail clipper” were less than half that price. The calculation of that investment shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Next is dust, which has the same problem as my duvet—if you don’t do anything, it just keeps getting worse. Do we really have to keep swiping dust away for eternity? Why do dust mites even exist? It’s hard to comprehend just how repulsive they are, living in our homes and feeding on our dead skin cells. It feels like there should be some way out, something that I could buy to make this problem go away.

But the one that really irks me is the technology we have related to women’s reproductive health. Some things seem downright archaic. You’re telling me that, for reasons completely out of my control, I either have to wear a diaper or invade my body with a foreign object every few weeks? Maybe you don’t consider your period a big inconvenience, but maybe we have been conditioned to accept that this is the best we can do.

As a woman rapidly approaching 21, don’t even get me started on pap smears. If you don’t know what that is or have never had to do one, consider yourself lucky. (And if you have, please tell me it’s not as bad as I think it is). Does a speculum really have to look like a medieval torture device? This is just one example of women tolerating discomfort for no reason, with a “lack of innovation” serving as an excuse for sexism.

It was only in 1993 with the NIH Revitalization Act that “women and minorities” were required to be subjects in clinical research. Prior to then, women were excluded from most biomedical clinical research. Maybe you’ve seen a TikTok about how car crash simulators only use male dummies, or seen a headline about general misogyny in the workplace, especially in medicine. However, unless we actually complain enough or organize enough support, nothing will be done. The lack of research on women’s reproductive health certainly isn’t invisible, but there is still a steep uphill climb to adequate and equal care.

Battling the misogyny entrenched in the medical system first requires refusing to accept current standards. We should feel comfortable asking for better procedures, products, and overall research. Human beings can go to the moon, can tell me my genetic makeup through DNA, and have figured out how to control music from another device, but people with periods just have to suck it up every month? Just like with my duvet, I refuse to accept that this is the best solution we have. Innovation shouldn’t be reserved for those in power—everyone has the power to ask more of their nail clippers and the country’s longstanding institutions.