Being a woman comes with unique challenges that are often overlooked. If you’re a woman and you’ve ever been told your physical pain is not real or that your depression is a phase or that you’re somehow to blame for being assaulted—you get it.
On Reddit, women are sharing the serious issues they deal with that are totally overlooked.
And the scary thing is a lot of them are medical and could be easily dealt with sooner than later if doctors would just listen and run some basic tests. If you’ve ever thought, “oh women have it easy,” think again!
1. Hysterectomies
“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.” — EmotionalPotatoess
2. Pelvic Floor Therapy
“Pelvic floor physical therapy! It’s life changing, and many women don’t know their physical issues can be easily addressed.” — BackpackngTherapist
3. Hormonal Birth Control
“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.” — SleepySamurai
4. Endometriosis
“I started getting minor ovarian cysts when I was in high school, but after my kiddo was born everything kicked into high gear and I was in constant pain. After years of being experimented on with birth control to control it, I had to beg a doctor to do a laparoscopy to find out once and for all what was going on. They found endometriosis and a cyst that was about half the size of my ovary, and the doctor still acted like I was a hypochondriac who had wasted her time. Years later I actually found a doctor that specialized in PCOS, and he realized that the birth control I went on after my pregnancy is what messed with my hormone levels in the first place. My kiddo was in high school by the time I had an actual answer and effective treatment.” — lightningusagi
5. Medical Care
“Just health and medical issues in general. You have to be a personification of a tsunami to get taken seriously about medical issues. And some people don’t even know about diseases like endometriosis, Pcos, and etc. due to lack of health/sex education. And also for mental health and just emotions as well (which I have more experience with than physical health issues) I have been told because I’ve been angry, irritated, depressed, etc . because of hormones, I’m on my period, and etc. by family members. It’s f*cking irritating, invalidating, and demeaning. And not to mention it’s even worse for woc.” — Cheshire_Cat8888
6. Periods
“PMS and PMDD. Lots of times these are taken as lightly as ‘just few days feeling non controllable or uncomfortable’ or ‘outraged wife/girlfriend because of hormone.’ These syndromes should be recognized by everyone taken seriously. And one should always be encouraged to seek for professional help. The other thing is the hygiene products for periods. These should really be discussed openly. But I feel people still kinda hiding it from public because periods are dirty and secret. Specifically a lot of times men are undereducated about these. (Not their fault…our society did not really encourage them to start with).” — rietveldrefinement
7. After-Birth Care For Mothers
“In my country it’s after birth care for mothers. Mental health system is fucked. 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 woman have died after not being checked over properly before leaving the hospital. Edit: I don’t even live in a 3rd world country either. People are wanting to move here because of how we’ve handled COVID.” — Any-Difficulty-8694
8. Postpartum Depression
“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.” — cheezybick
9. Victim Blaming
“Women are blamed for every problem because it’s easier than taking responsibility. Got catcalled? Must have dressed provocatively. Husband beat her up? Must have gotten on his nerves. Husband has depression? Must have drained him. Husband cheated on her? Must have said ‘no’ during sex. Can’t have a baby? Must be something wrong with her. Husband cheated on her again? Can’t expect the guy to wait months just because she’s having his baby grow inside her.” — mikeyman222
10. Energy Spent On Appearance
“The extra time, energy, and money that must be spent to look professional. I sometimes try to throw my hands up and say ‘f*ck it, let them think I’m ugly,’ and I stop plucking my eyebrows for awhile, no makeup, etc…and I’m treated noticeably different.” — DrunkUranus
11. Safety Devices
“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.” — TimmyIV
12. Reproductive Choices
“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.” — whorgans
13. Sexual Harassment
“The fact that sexual 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.” — LazagnaAmpersand
14. Parental Leave
“New mothers could really use the help of their spouse around the house, and just spending time together with their child in general as a form of bonding and emotional release. It’s treated strictly as a men’s rights issue, and a low-priority one, when really it would be a massive benefit to women’s emotional stability and home security.” — dumbwaeguk
15. Clothing Sizes
“Clothing sizes. My sons & husband can grab a pair of jeans, look at the size, buy them without trying them on, because the sizes are standard. Meanwhile myself and my daughter’s have to try things on (which has been impossible during lockdown) one of my daughter’s has pants that range from 28 inch to 32 inch waist. They all fit. A tape measure shows a 29 inch waist.” — Mumofalltrades63
16. Being Interrupted
“Being verbally interrupted. All of the time. This may not happen to every woman but I know it happens to most of the women I know. Just let us finish a sentence smh.” — Barfbag720
17. Breast Obsession
“Having big boobs. It’s treated as highly desirable yet the world isn’t really built to accommodate them. Mine are only slightly larger than average but I struggle to find bras/clothes that fit. Most sports bras do fuck all to hold them up so I don’t do a lot of exercises because it hurts too much. I’m just a bit over it.” — RealisticJob9750
18. Low Libido
“Low libido. Men get Viagra, women get told to ‘go on a date with your spouse.’ When I was having issues, a FEMALE gyno told me that. Finally, after 12 years, found one who ran a hormone panel and discovered I wasn’t producing enough testosterone. Fixed the whole issue.” — BustAMove_13
19. Pads and Tampons
“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.” — squid2901
20. Aggressive Men
“The danger of confronting someone who is being a creep/pedo/taking advantage of the situation. Luckily I have some scary male friends that always back me up when I confront someone, but not everyone has that blessing.” — Savanahspider
Featured Image: Unsplash