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Elaine Miller

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Elaine Miller
EducationGlasgow Caledonian University
Occupation(s)Physiotherapist, comedian and women's health campaigner

Elaine Miller aka Gussie Grippers is a Scottish physiotherapist, women's health campaigner and gender-critical activist.[1][2][3] Miller performs comedy shows around the subject of women's health, highlighting issues related to urinary incontinence,[4] and her shows have won awards at Fringe World, Australia and at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[5][6][7] She came to mainstream media attention for flashing a pubic wig in the Scottish Parliament during a debate on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.[1][2]

Career

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Miller is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.[8] Both her physiotherapy and her comedy feature a specialism in pelvic floor dysfunction. While working as a physiotherapist in Scotland Miller developed a comedy show designed to engage audiences in understanding how physiotherapy can be used to tackle and prevent urinary incontinence.[9][10][11][12][13][14] She began her career in the field of sports physiotherapy, but after her own experience of becoming incontinent after having delivered three children, she began to focus on exercises for the pelvic floor.[15] She has been invited as a contributing expert on women's health topics in UK media, including Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.[13][9][16]

Her show won 'Weirdest Show at the Fringe' at the Edinburgh festivals in 2013[5][6] and the Australian Fringe World Comedy Award in 2020.[7] Attendance at her 2016 show counted towards continuing professional development (CPD) for a range of health professionals including GPs, midwives, nurses, urologists, gynaecologists, health visitors and fitness professionals, accredited by Scottish Care.[17] Her public engagement activities aim to use laughter as an essential health promotion tool, and are in the tradition of 'clown care'.[18][19][20][21] Her comedy highlights the fact that laughing is one of the things which causes many women bladder leakage and the impact (and novelty) of her work is reflected in a range of health and comedy-related media coverage.[6][22]

She works to highlight a gap in women's health support [4] and get government funding for the provision of physiotherapy to improve women’s health.[6] She performs under the stage name Gussie Grippers.[23][24][25] Her act often includes eyecatching costumes such as dressing up as a vulva and songs such as "does your cervix hang low?".[26][27]

Activism

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Miller works to highlight issues in women's health. Stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse are experienced by many women.[14][28] Estimates suggest one in three women experience urinary incontinence, and that it is more prevalent in older women and women who have had babies.[29][30] Invasive operations to tackle incontinence involve the insertion of synthetic mesh.[14] Urinary incontinence can be embarrassing and may affect daily, family and social life.[15][30][31] Miller believes the barriers which deter women from seeking help need to be explored[19][9] and that raising awareness of the simple, repetitive, non-invasive pelvic floor exercises[32][33] which can improve the condition, can have a significant effect on the day to day lives of many.[16][15][5]

In 2022 she attracted mainstream media coverage when she wore, and flashed a merkin in the Scottish Parliament during debate on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, to express opposition to the bill. After an initial police investigation she was found not to have committed any crime.[34][35][36]

Politics

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In 2023 she became an independent candidate for election in Edinburgh Corstorphine and Murrayfield and used her campaign in part to highlight issues of women's health provision in Edinburgh.[34][37][4]

Performances

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References

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  1. ^ a b "'Gender critical' protester flashes pubic wig in Scottish parliament after trans rights bill passed". PinkNews. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Holyrood 'flasher' poses with Tory Russell Findlay holding pubic wig". The National. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Adult Human Female screening in Edinburgh cancelled for second time". The National. Retrieved 20 August 2023. prominent gender critical campaigner Elaine Miller
  4. ^ a b c "Kevin McKenna meets the woman whose Holyrood protest went viral". HeraldScotland. 25 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  5. ^ a b c d Miller, Elaine (2017-08-10). "Why I wrote a comedy show about incontinence". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  6. ^ a b c d "Elaine Miller - Combining Comedy with Incontinence". Bladder & Bowel Community. 2017-11-20. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  7. ^ a b c "Viva Your Vulva - Audacious Women Festival". Data Thistle. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  8. ^ "Elaine Miller". The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  9. ^ a b c "Better orgasms and no leaks: Tips for a strong pelvic floor". BBC News. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  10. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Pelvic floor exercises; Disabled parents; Craft prize; Women's football; Wedding dresses". BBC. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  11. ^ a b "Menopause Festival - Gusset Grippers". perththeatreandconcerthall.com. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  12. ^ a b Healey, Natalie (2019-08-13). "Gusset Grippers: The comedy show tackling incontinence". patient.info. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  13. ^ a b "BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Here's why you should be exercising your pelvic floor and exactly how to do it". BBC. 29 October 2021. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  14. ^ a b c "ISD Scotland | Terms and Conditions| What's New | Information Services Division". www.isdscotland.org. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  15. ^ a b c Taylor, Rosie (2022-08-14). "'You see yourself as dirty and a bit broken': The 'secret' issue we're finally talking about". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  16. ^ a b "The Liz Earle Wellbeing Show: Incontinence, menopause and pregnancy with Elaine Miller (aka Gusset Grippers) on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  17. ^ "Gusset Grippers' – Edinburgh Fringe show about the mysteries of continence and the pelvic floor". Scottish Care. 2016-06-20. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  18. ^ "Elaine Miller | HuffPost". www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  19. ^ a b "PhysioUpdate News | Pelvic health - Sep 22, 2021". www.physioupdate.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  20. ^ Miller, Elaine; Bergmeier, Heidi J.; Blewitt, Claire; O'Connor, Amanda; Skouteris, Helen (December 2021). "A systematic review of humour-based strategies for addressing public health priorities". Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 45 (6): 568–577. doi:10.1111/1753-6405.13142. ISSN 1753-6405. PMID 34411385.
  21. ^ "Burst the taboo: Elaine Miller combines physiotherapy with stand-up comedy". The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  22. ^ Rachel (2018-06-10). "The Incontinence Comedian - Elaine Miller Of Gusset Grippers". For Your Magnificent Midlife And Beyond. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  23. ^ "Elaine Miller: Gusset Grippers". Fair Pley. 23 April 2020. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  24. ^ a b "Viva Your Vulva: The Hole Story: 5 star review by Richard Beck". broadwaybaby.com. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  25. ^ "Gusset Grippers/pelvic floor/Elaine Miller/comedy/ physiotherapy". Gussetgrippers. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  26. ^ Middleton, Lucy (2020-01-07). "'I dress up as a vulva to teach women about incontinence'". Metro. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  27. ^ Women's Health: Talking about the pelvic floor - BBC Stories, 2 June 2018, retrieved 2023-03-05
  28. ^ "Urinary Incontinence in Women". www.hopkinsmedicine.org. 2022-11-01. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  29. ^ "One in Three Women". Continence Foundation of Australia. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  30. ^ a b Grover, Natalie (2022-04-07). "'You feel so sexless and dirty': the women living with incontinence after childbirth". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  31. ^ "Urinary incontinence in women | Health Information | Bupa UK". www.bupa.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  32. ^ "What are pelvic floor exercises?". nhs.uk. 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  33. ^ "PELVIC FLOOR EXERCISES". Gussetgrippers. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  34. ^ a b "Gender recognition 'flasher' protester standing for election in Edinburgh". HeraldScotland. 26 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  35. ^ Meikle, David. "Gender Recognition Reform Bill: police drop investigation into Scottish parliament flasher". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  36. ^ "Police investigating ex-Fife health worker who exposed herself in Holyrood over gender reforms vote". The Courier. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  37. ^ Lloyd, Karen. "Corstorphine/Murrayfield by-election candidates announced". The City of Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  38. ^ Guide, British Comedy. "Viva Your Vulva: The Hole Story". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
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