A TikTok user’s video has gone viral after calling out the imbalance of medical treatment between men and women.
In a video with over 591,000 views as of Saturday, TikTok user Ren (@sjpoirier) recounts an experience she had at a doctor’s office.
“I just watched a man go into his doctor, ask for a referral for an ADHD diagnosis, and the doctor did it right then and there,” Ren says. “And I’m in a 5-month long battle to get the same thing done for me.”
@sjpoirier This is why self diagnosis is valid. FUCK this medical systen and all the misogyny in it
♬ original sound – REN
The term ‘medical misogyny’ is a term occasionally used to describe the imbalance in medical treatment and care between men and women.
This takes many forms. For example, according to an article in the Washington Post, “the Journal of the American Heart Association reported that women who visited emergency departments with chest pain waited 29 percent longer than men to be evaluated for possible heart attacks.”
“An analysis of 981 emergency room visits showed that women with acute abdominal pain were up to 25 percent less likely than their male counterparts to be treated with powerful opioid painkillers,” adds author Lindsey Bever. “Another study showed that middle-aged women with chest pain and other symptoms of heart disease were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness compared with men who had the same symptoms.”
These are just some of the many imbalances between men and women in medical treatment. Others include women being less likely than men to receive CPR, women waiting years to receive diagnoses for relatively common ailments like endometriosis, and women having to deal with a lack of medical research about the issues that affect them.
An area where this is especially prominent is ADHD, owing in part to a difference in the way the disorder tends to manifest in men and women.
“Girls frequently display inattentive symptoms, including forgetfulness, trouble paying attention, and problems with organization. Boys tend to display hyperactive/impulsive symptoms, like blurting out or being unable to sit still in class,” details Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD). “These hyperactive/impulsive symptoms get noticed more easily by parents and teachers while inattentive symptoms sometimes get ignored.”
“The presumption remains that the diagnostic criteria for ADHD pertain as accurately to inattentive women as they do to hyperactive boys,” explains Ellen Littman, Ph.D. for ADDitude. “Quantitative assessments still focus on external behaviors that interfere with other people.”
In the comments section under Ren’s video, users report facing similar issues attempting to get a diagnosis for their condition — or even having their condition recognized after it’s been diagnosed.
“I got diagnosed in HS and I still had teachers telling me I’m faking my 4 month long diagnosis that was done AT school,” wrote a user. “no male ever had that happen.”
“My parents had to fight tooth and nail to get me tested. I was in middle school and my dad also has it, yet I ‘wasn’t hyperactive,’” recounted another. “My parents made damn sure that the Drs that didn’t want me tested ate their words.”
“Took me 17 years to finally get diagnosed, it was so obvious but no one listened because I still performed good at school,” stated a third.
Thankfully, Ren recently shared a positive update. After five months, it appears she’s finally getting a referral.
We’ve reached out to Ren via Instagram direct message.
