The point of this comic is to express frustration about a current and long-standing issue I’ve heard many women express frustrations about, which I understand to be: doctors not really listening to them when they list specific issues or symptoms, and “railroading” them into it not being something to worry about, or putting it down to them being a woman.
The question can be seemingly routine, but as a guy who doesn’t experience this kind of thing when I go to the docs I can certainly imagine how frustrating it could be to encounter these questions upfront and to feel unheard, especially by a medical professional when I’m worried about something.
What do you mean you don’t experience this? Every doctor I’ve been to asks seemingly unrelated questions, a lot of issues can and do stem from somewhere else, or maybe something you are missing.
A doctor shouldn’t just take what you say and run with it, that’s a horrible doctor.
I also go to as a support to a lot of my wife’s appointments, the period question is always one of the first, and again, lots of seemingly unrelated questions, but most are just routine for everyone who comes in, regardless of of concern. It also gives them data and graph points for when there may actually be issues. And now they have base points. What doctors are you seeing that aren’t doing this?
Yeah, not every question is an insult to the person.
Most questions doctors ask are benign, it’s not about a women being put down, it’s usually them taking the questions as insults.
Men experience it too, but it’s not taken out context. Yes the reproductive rights in the US is muddying things. But being asked if you’ve had your period is a routine question, the fact that women are taking offense to it, shows how it’s been twisted around and being used as a weapon instead.
The comic made its point, then shifted to a different and left it hanging. The comic is a totally different tone and point if you remove the last panel.
Sounds like you’re assuming an awful lot on behalf of women in general and ignoring our experiences. Doctors do absolutely have to ask certain questions for diagnostic and treatment purposes, but they also do ignore our perspectives and tend to misdiagnose or misattribute our problems. Every woman has a story or knows someone that has been “diagnosed with woman,” or mistreated by the medical system. Take two minutes of googling and you’ll find countless studies. Look up the slang “WWW” (whiny white woman), or other regional variants. The “female hysteria” stereotype is still very much real. More than once in my life I’ve handed the phone to a man who restated the EXACT same words I said, and was only then taken seriously. I’ve had a doctor suggest that my symptoms are likely PMS, despite the fact that I have no uterus and have never had a period, and didn’t even believe me after I told him as much until he checked and double checked my chart, as if I would lie about something so easily disproven!
Medical misogyny is real, and the purpose of the comic is to point out the priority of the system to view us first as reproductive vessels, and the tendency to ignore our perspectives specifically because of our gender. If the very first question a doctor asked after “I HAVE AN OPEN GUNSHOT WOUND IN MY ARM” was “When was your last period,” instead of immediate triage and first aid, it would be ridiculous. Even in this incredibly pedantic view of the comic, taking everything directly literally instead of comprehending the obvious point it’s making, it still doesn’t make sense.
The point of this comic is to express frustration about a current and long-standing issue I’ve heard many women express frustrations about, which I understand to be: doctors not really listening to them when they list specific issues or symptoms, and “railroading” them into it not being something to worry about, or putting it down to them being a woman.
The question can be seemingly routine, but as a guy who doesn’t experience this kind of thing when I go to the docs I can certainly imagine how frustrating it could be to encounter these questions upfront and to feel unheard, especially by a medical professional when I’m worried about something.
What do you mean you don’t experience this? Every doctor I’ve been to asks seemingly unrelated questions, a lot of issues can and do stem from somewhere else, or maybe something you are missing.
A doctor shouldn’t just take what you say and run with it, that’s a horrible doctor.
I also go to as a support to a lot of my wife’s appointments, the period question is always one of the first, and again, lots of seemingly unrelated questions, but most are just routine for everyone who comes in, regardless of of concern. It also gives them data and graph points for when there may actually be issues. And now they have base points. What doctors are you seeing that aren’t doing this?
I mean I don’t experience being asked when my period was or having symptoms I report being flippantly put down to “being a woman”.
Yeah, not every question is an insult to the person.
Most questions doctors ask are benign, it’s not about a women being put down, it’s usually them taking the questions as insults.
Men experience it too, but it’s not taken out context. Yes the reproductive rights in the US is muddying things. But being asked if you’ve had your period is a routine question, the fact that women are taking offense to it, shows how it’s been twisted around and being used as a weapon instead.
The comic made its point, then shifted to a different and left it hanging. The comic is a totally different tone and point if you remove the last panel.
Sounds like you’re assuming an awful lot on behalf of women in general and ignoring our experiences. Doctors do absolutely have to ask certain questions for diagnostic and treatment purposes, but they also do ignore our perspectives and tend to misdiagnose or misattribute our problems. Every woman has a story or knows someone that has been “diagnosed with woman,” or mistreated by the medical system. Take two minutes of googling and you’ll find countless studies. Look up the slang “WWW” (whiny white woman), or other regional variants. The “female hysteria” stereotype is still very much real. More than once in my life I’ve handed the phone to a man who restated the EXACT same words I said, and was only then taken seriously. I’ve had a doctor suggest that my symptoms are likely PMS, despite the fact that I have no uterus and have never had a period, and didn’t even believe me after I told him as much until he checked and double checked my chart, as if I would lie about something so easily disproven!
Medical misogyny is real, and the purpose of the comic is to point out the priority of the system to view us first as reproductive vessels, and the tendency to ignore our perspectives specifically because of our gender. If the very first question a doctor asked after “I HAVE AN OPEN GUNSHOT WOUND IN MY ARM” was “When was your last period,” instead of immediate triage and first aid, it would be ridiculous. Even in this incredibly pedantic view of the comic, taking everything directly literally instead of comprehending the obvious point it’s making, it still doesn’t make sense.
I’m gonna defer to women’s experiences on this one, as I don’t experience it myself.
I think I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying mate. The comic is totally different if you remove the punchline, you’re right.
It’s two different punchlines. One finished, then they shifted to another, which is a regular question to ask before X-rays or pain meds.
It seems the creator of the comic thinks it’s not a valid question. That’s where the second punchline fails. It’s shifted to a DIFFERENT punchline.
Are you trying to mansplain pregnancy?
What’s the first punchline? I see one punchline.