I will design your business brand identity in 7 joy-fuelled weeks ✨ Founder of Joy Marketing 💛 Self-Proclaimed Queen of Marketing & Copy @ Sonder Script 🍿
I am seeing more & more women in my LinkedIn feed speak out about their experience with periods, menopause, PCOS, endometriosis... And I am LIVING for it 👏 We've got one hell of a long way to go to end medical misogyny, medical gaslighting and the deranged stigma that women's pain = hysteria. Sharing our collective experiences online won't provide a magic solution, but it's a great place to start. (And yes: LinkedIn IS absolutely the right platform to be having these conversations) I'm currently listening to Rebel Bodies by Sarah Graham which highlights some startling - yet sadly not shocking - stats around women's health, including: 🚩 Research shows that 50% of women experience period pain bad enough to need medication. 🚩 Yet the medications to treat period pain, namely the pill and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen, have a 20-25% failure rate. 🚩 A study from 2016 showed that 5x more studies are conducted into Erectile Dysfunction (ED) compared to Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), despite the former affecting just 19% of men while the latter affects 90% of women. 🚩 An earlier review found that 40% of women with PMS do not respond to any current treatments available. Meanwhile, men can readily buy medication over the counter for ED. And if you want to look at this in monetary terms... 🚩 Endometriosis alone costs the UK economy a whopping £8.2 BILLION per year in treatment, loss of work and healthcare costs. So yes, I will continue to bang the drum and speak out about women's health. And no, I won't be sorry if the words 'uterus' or 'period' offend anyone. I live to see the day when I don't have to have regular surgery to keep on top of my currently incurable disease ✌️ [Picture of me leaving hospital after having 5 hours of surgery. Turns out, it wasn't 'just a bad period' 🤷🏻♀️]
I needed to see this. PMDD sufferer here and I basically find my period to be like a trauma every month that I then have to "recover" from. This month was a bad one, horrendous pains (I take ibuprofen and codeine, it takes the edge off but doesn't make them completely go away), sickness, fatigue and anxiety. Just coming out the other side now. The only solution I have ever been offered is....The Pill. Which I don't see as the solution. It just leads me to different problems 😪 I would love things to change.
You know I'm right here with you 👏Linkedin is absolutely the place for these conversations when women are a) passing out at work b) losing days in ther businesses because of this. As you know I've been going to the doctors since 2016 and this year it's culminated in a horrible experience that almost cost me my business... and yet the doctor is like 'and? Happens to loads of women.' I can't explain the trauma of going through an experience like that and why should it get to this. There was a post yesterday which said we know more about horse anatomy than we do women's. And so it makes sense that my doctor told me its all 'unexplained', like that's an ending to it, like I should just put up with it now. And also, since I posted on Tuesday, don't get me started on the people I've never spoken to before coming into my inbox trying to sell me their product. Women talking about this stuff is not an invitation to pitch them.
Medical misogyny is very real — most of the issues I’ve gone to the doctor for or even looked online about are instantly met with two responses: 🥴 Lose weight 🥴 Go on the contraceptive pill Though I’ve had a way better experience than most on the pill (I used to struggle with bad PMDD before being on it for the week or two weeks before my period), it’s also contributed to other issues even though it’s treated as a catch-all solution for women’s health! Don’t even get me started on the amount of women I know who have only been treated seriously when having to repeatedly put their foot down, seek a female doctor, or involve their partners or husbands in the process just to validate their own experiences in the eyes of healthcare professionals! The more we talk about it, the more likely it is that we won’t feel alone in this struggle and will have more confidence seeking the treatment we deserve — even if it’s a ridiculously long road. Love your posts as always, Hannah!
The area of medical research is so deliberately mysognistic because studying women is so inconvenient (eyeroll) what with our hormones and cycles and such. You can take it all the way back to Aristole et al too, with their proclamations that women are just deformed men with their testicals on the inside and all that wet clamminess. Grrrrr. LinkedIn is a platform for our 'inconvenience' to be stated loudly and often - too many women struggle in silence and that serves neither the individual nor economy.
And dont get me started on maternity care, assumptive language is my particular pet hate and misleading advice leading to traumatic experiences for both mothers and babies Ggggrrrr...oh and menopause meds...we'll be here for a while if I get started on a rant!
Thank you for sharing this. It’s really important to have these conversations. I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 15. I can go months without a period and then it seems as though I get six in one go. It has had a huge impact on all areas of my life. Definitely not enough research. The number of doctors who have just shrugged at me!
I was told I have a large cyst on my left ovary. That's it. I have no idea how big and any information about it. Could be the size of a pea or a grapefruit for all I know. Will it get bigger? Will it burst? No idea. Whereas if a man had a cyst on his testicle, that would probably be a different story.
I will design your business brand identity in 7 joy-fuelled weeks ✨ Founder of Joy Marketing 💛 Self-Proclaimed Queen of Marketing & Copy @ Sonder Script 🍿
11moThank you to everyone who's commented, its SO good to see so many engaging in this much needed conversation! I will get back to you all ASAP 🙌☺️