My View on Tuana's Epistemology of Ignorance

Explain in your own words what the phrase “the epistemology of ignorance” means and, as best you can, draw from your own experience or other anecdotes to provide an example that can help explain the idea.

The epistemology of ignorance is essentially the acknowledgement that our cultural understanding of a situation or topic is limited and biased because it is only based on the knowledge that we have and disregards the fact that there is knowledge that we don't have. This epistemology is brought about by the current power structures to assist in marginalizing and oppressing one class or group by essentially deeming their information irrelevant. Tuana focuses mainly on how the epistemology of ignorance is present when discussing sexual desires of males and females. 

While I think this is a perfect example, I think you can take her reasoning one step further and generally apply it to gender specific medical processes. Most men know little about female cycles because the process itself has been culturally deemed insignificant unless the woman is trying to become pregnant. In most sex ed classes, the emphasis is put on the process of becoming pregnant that highlights male domination or superiority, and later on, cultural information of the actual pregnancy and trimester information besides the stereotypical cravings of pickles or ice cream is left between and woman and her OB/GYN, despite the fact that the man is equally responsible for the result of a pregnancy. Even most men I know who were involved in a their child's life rarely went to every doctor appointment during their wife's pregnancy because the knowledge wasn't necessary or relevant to the current power structure. In doing this, it further reinforces the stereotype that female sexual processes besides pleasing a man is better left between women, thereby continuing to reinforce the ignorance men have in understanding women's bodies.