Book a test and talk about uterine cervix cancer – we can not continue to die of shame – Rachael Bletchly

Comedian Ben Elton has directed in his TV show The Man From Auntie a sketch on cervical smears.

It was in 1994 and some people were shocked and embarrbaded, complaining that graphic gynecological jokes had no place on the BBC under the name of "alternative comedy".

But I found it hysterical.

I had just pbaded my first smear and, after spending weeks worrying myself unnecessarily, I thought that humor could be tackled at the taboo for others.

Back every three years, I'll remember that Ben had marveled at a woman's ability to withstand "an icy, duckbilled torpedo mounted in your khyber."

And jokingly, the most terrifying sentence of a doctor's vocabulary was: "On your knees, keep your bad, you're going to sink something very different from a Ford Cortina into your bad."

But in his OTT routine, Ben also conveyed the message to young women: "You have to do that, it's extremely important."

In the 25 years since, cervical cancer screening has changed a lot.

These scary metal speculums have been replaced by disposable speculums of different sizes.

Thus, an experienced nurse can do the job in 30 seconds with minimal discomfort – as we saw on Friday's Victoria Derbyshire TV show. But why did they need to demonstrate this live on BBC2?

Because cervical cancer screening is at its lowest level in 21 years.

Five million women are late for testing, and polls show that 80 percent of latecomers aged 25 to 35 feel "too conscious of the body" to participate.

To worry about their "down" appearance and their shame to be examined means that they lack tests that can save lives.

Still, some would be happy to visit a beautician for a Brazilian wax that would put mouth watering.

Each year, about 3,200 Britons are diagnosed with cervical cancer. A thousand die. But rates are expected to increase by 40% over the next two decades.

After the death of reality star Jade Goody, 27, of cancer in 2009, an additional 400,000 women attended their screenings.

But now that the Jade effect has been eliminated, helped by unreal body images on social media.

We must break these new taboos and eliminate the fear of smear.

Or, as the works of charity against cervical cancer warn, "women will die from embarrbadment".

It's a shocking and terrifying phrase in anyone's vocabulary.