I’m not a woman, so I don’t have a clue what they struggle with every day.
And I don’t pretend that I do.
But, I have a mom, two sisters, and a lot of female friends, so I do my best to try to understand the issues that are important to them.
And I’m going to learn some more today, which is always a good thing.
AskReddit users talked about women’s issues that they believe are often overlooked.
Here’s what they had to say.
1. Annoying.
“Having a decent career, education, friendships, hobbies and being financially independent only to be asked if you’re married and “aren’t you worried about time running out.”
Saying ‘no I’m not interested in marriage or kids’ is met with a shocked reaction. Thought this attitude d**d out years ago but it has not.
Getting told to ‘smile sweetheart.'”
2. Never got an explanation.
Cervical cancer caused by HPV.
I don’t know about other women on here, but I never received an explanation of what a Pap Smear does/tests for or why it’s so important to get done at the proper intervals. I had three abnormal paps in a row and my old GYN didn’t bat an eye.
I just got a new doctor and she insisted on doing a punch biopsy/colposcopy and it turns out I have HSIL, which has a pretty high likelihood of further mutating into full blown cervical cancer.
I’m now facing a cold knife conization or LEEP procedure because my old GYN didn’t care enough to look into why my pap smears were abnormal.”
3. Learn about it.
“Pelvic floor physical therapy!
It’s life changing, and many women don’t know their physical issues can be easily addressed.”
4. Totally backward.
“The fact that in many Middle Eastern countries, women are still second class citizens.
My friend is Iranian and if she’s r**ed she’ll need 5 male eyewitnesses, but if she k**ls her attacker she’ll be e**cuted…”
5. Overall medical problems.
“Medical issues.
It took me 3 ER visits and a walk-in doctor to diagnose a raging infection in my abdomen. I was told it’s all in my head???
By the time it got diagnosed my bowel had almost perforated. I could have d**d if I was less tenacious.”
6. A guy’s POV.
“I’m a dude and I H**E the fact that when I’m doing something with my long-time gf like buying a new car, renting a new apt., taking a loan etc. that people ignore my gf and assume she is just not important.
They just look at me and talk only to me. I have to make an effort to include her in something she should be in from the start. I feel so bad for her and try to amend it as much as I can, but there is not much you can do.
We were at the car dealers the other day looking at the car and the dealer kept ignoring her and her wishes. He was only looking at me and assumed she doesn’t know what she is talking about. We just left.”
7. Bad news.
“How bad some of the negative effects hormonal birth control can be.
I was losing my mind, but my doctor brushed it off saying I was just stressed.
Got off it, and instantly felt so much better.”
8. Yikes.
“Hysterectomies. I am 24 and have reoccurring fibroid tumors and have since I was a teenager.
It’s not typical for someone my age to have multiple and large fibroids. My largest one was 11cm. They are painful and I’m about to have my second surgery to remove them. I don’t want to keep doing this over and over and would like to have a hysterectomy, yet my surgeon refuses because I’m young and “might want children.”
If I get pregnant, I have a high risk of miscarriage. It will eat me alive if that happens to me.”
9. A big one.
“Oral contraceptive birth control pills can cause depression and very often do.
PMS and PMDD aren’t taken seriously enough.
The depression and anxiety of PMDD are debilitating.”
10. After birth care.
“In my country it’s after birth care for mothers. Mental health system is f**ked. Woman are told the pain they are feeling is “normal” only to find out they need a stoma bag a month down the track.
Some women have d**d after not being checked over properly before leaving the hospital. I don’t even live in a 3rd world country either. People are wanting to move here because of how we’ve handled COVID.”
11. A lot of pain.
“Women suffering is generally considered normal.
Painful period ? Normal.
Incessant vomiting during pregnancy ? Normal.
Postnatal pain ? Normal, what did you expect?
Hey, guess what, you can have painless periods and symptoms-free pregnancy, they just can’t be bothered to help you.”
12. Need more education.
“The lack of actual education about your own body.
Like I didn’t even know I had 3 holes until I was 16 and I learned it from an episode of Big Mouth.”
13. Don’t feel guilty.
“Postpartum Depression
It’s so much more common than people think but many mothers feel too guilty to reach out for help because they think everything is supposed to be amazing after getting the baby.”
14. Need to know.
“Prolapse!
I was properly shocked when I learned about this surprisingly somewhat common side effect from childbirth.”
15. The important stuff.
“Having access to pads and tampons.
Most women have access to pads and tampons in my country, but we often forget about the women who don’t.
Also s** education is not good. We need to be teaching about anatomy, periods, and menopause.”
16. Trauma.
“The time it takes to heal from trauma. And money.
I’ve been in therapy for 4 years, read a hundred books on healing, gone to retreats, etc. and I’m sitting there this Saturday in a circle of women who are about to talk and cry for 6 hours on a Saturday… like what are our r**ists doing right now?
Cause they aren’t sitting in a circle talking about their feelings trying desperately to feel good in life again.”
17. Keeping up appearances.
“The extra time, energy, and money that must be spent to look professional.
I sometimes try to throw my hands up and say “f**k it, let them think I’m ugly,” and I stop plucking my eyebrows for awhile, no makeup, etc… and I’m treated noticeably different.”
18. Ridiculous.
“I have endometriosis, terrible genetics, and my husband and I don’t want children.
Getting an IUD was still a pain in the a**.
Why must women suffer to avoid being even TEMPORARILY infertile?”
19. Cult-like.
“The cult/religion I was raised in taught little girls and young women that if they weren’t virgins(regardless of whether it was something they consented to) then they were worth less then a chewed piece of gum on the street.
I’m a dude and I was only taught that I should stay a virgin until marriage because it’s a sin. I didn’t learn what they taught to the women until a few months before I left that cult/religion while I was attending the college they own.
There’s also a ton of victim blaming. There was a girl who was kicked out of the cult/religion’s college because her r**ist said she drank al**hol on the night he r**ed her. The r**ist was allowed to stay, and as far as I know, didn’t get any serious consequences.”
20. THIS.
“The fact that s**ual harassment often starts before a girl is even an adult.
The fact that women grow up learning that their most important source of value is in their appearance, and other women also participate in reinforcing it.”
21. Never thought of this.
“Nearly every safety invention is designed for the average man. Airbags, seatbelts, dosages for drugs, safety bars on roller coasters, etc.
Look, I know we can’t all custom order cars with different sized belts and bags, etc, but women can sustain serious injuries because safety features aren’t meant for them.”
22. Wrong.
“In my country feminine hygiene products are subject to the same tax as luxury items.
Something seems wrong here.”
23. Shouldn’t be this hard.
“My inability to get sterilized. I do not want children. I never have, never will. I will never have children to please a partner. If a partner wants children, they’re not the one for me.
I want to be sterilized so I have a very very very minimal chance of getting pregnant. But I cannot do it because I’m too young, I’ll change my mind, my partner might want kids, etc.
It shouldn’t be this hard for me to make a choice on my own body but I am sure about.”
24. The view from overseas.
“In my country, Bangladesh, women are blamed for everything wrong that happens.
For example if a girl marries a guy and after years the guy d**s of a disease or something people will say “the girl ate the guy” meaning anyone who marries the girl will d**.
Another example is that when women are s**ually assaulted people say stuff like “why did the girl go in front of guys? Why did the girls go out at night? why did the girl wear short dresses in front of guys?”
STOP.
This is what Asian girls go through. I hope one day girlblaming will come to an end.”
25. Scary stuff.
“Pregnancy consequences in general.
Pregnancy is scary.
I’ve decided not to have kids and some of it stems from absolute terror at all the stuff that can happen because of it.”
Now we want to hear from you.
In the comments, tell us what women’s issues you think are often overlooked.
Thanks in advance!
