'You shoot it up your vagina and that's supposed to heal it?': Black women's perceptions of vaginal steaming in the USA.

Abstract

Vaginal steaming, a practice rooted in traditional medicine and popularised in wellness culture, has gained both biomedical concern and social interest. Although often framed as medically risky or scientifically unfounded, little is known about how Black women in the USA, whose reproductive health experiences are shaped by systemic neglect, commodification, and historical trauma, perceive this practice. Guided by a Black feminist lens, this qualitative study explored perceptions of vaginal steaming among eight Black women aged 23 to 70 through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. While only one participant had personal experience with vaginal steaming, all offered layered appraisals of the practice. Two central themes were evident: negotiating meaning and risk; and pathways of knowledge and influence. Participants expressed mixed perspectives with some viewing vaginal steaming as potentially empowering or restorative, while others questioned its safety, cost, and medical credibility. Information about vaginal steaming circulated primarily through interpersonal and digital networks, in which women engaged critically with wellness messages rather than accepting them unexamined. Findings suggest that US Black women's engagement with vaginal steaming reflects broader processes of autonomy, collective knowledge making, and critical navigation of consumer wellness culture insights that can inform more culturally responsive sexual and reproductive health communication.