International Women’s Day…Women with ME #BreakTheBias
Thank you to @envirobite & @midnightbakewithme for providing these excellent slides on the intersection of gender and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis I have broken from my usual posts to share their important message:
Today we are celebrating International Women’s Day and the 2022 theme of break the bias, by talking about ME/CFS and its disproportionate effects on women.
An estimated 75% of people living with ME/CFS are women, with similar figures for Long Covid.
As has happened with other chronic illnesses and symptoms that disproportionately affect women, over the years ME/CFS has been ridiculed and discredited by sectors of the medical community and public. This illness was long thought to be psychosomatic in nature or even a form of hypochondria - these stereotypes still exist today despite scientific evidence indicating that M.E. is a debilitating multisystemic chronic illness. This bias and stereotypes have led to research being underfunded, medical care neglected and symptoms dismissed, ruining the lives of thousands of sufferers.
Sexism within health care has long been noted, with a recent study showing that diseases afflicting mostly women tend to receive less funding than those mostly affecting men. It’s important to recognize that these systemic biases have an even greater effect on BIPOC individuals (Black, Indigenous and people of color), people of marginalized genders and many other intersections, who may find diagnosis even harder and are less represented in the ME community.
Misogyny related to ME/CFS also has huge negative effects on men with ME, with ‘masculine’ stereotypes making it harder for men to acknowledge and manage this disease. It is not one that can be ‘pushed through’ with a mental will or ‘fought off’ with physical strength or toxic positivity.
We are the Women With ME or women with long covid, and we are here to tell you our stories and hold our exhausted heads high. Our illness is real, physical and deserves to be funded, researched and believed.
