Medical misogyny is nothing new. Women’s health concerns get dismissed all the time, and most of us have stopped being surprised by it. But every now and then, something comes along that hits a new low.
A doctor recently went viral on TikTok after calling out two endometriosis studies that proved the bar is still underground. Rather than researching what the condition does to women, one looked at how it affected the men in their lives. The other rated how attractive women with endometriosis are.
When people saw them, they were rightfully furious. Scroll down to read more.
Endometriosis is a health condition that can cause women severe pain and often takes years to diagnose
Image credits: Polina Zimmerman/Pexels (not the actual photo)
But instead of helping those living with it, a study somehow found a way to make the whole thing about men
Image credits: peachy.poler
One doctor went online to call it out, and the video went viral
Image credits: peachy.poler
Image credits: peachy.poler
Women are still dealing with misogyny in medicine, and it’s costing them their health
Healthcare is advancing every year, with new discoveries and treatments coming out all the time. Yet for women, there is still a long way to go when it comes to getting their health problems taken seriously.
According to the 2024 #EndGenderBias survey, two out of three women have experienced discrimination in healthcare. The most common areas where gender bias showed up were in diagnosis and treatment.
Some women reported having their symptoms or pain dismissed entirely. Others were given bare-minimum treatment recommendations like paracetamol and a hot water bottle. Many were stereotyped as “hysterical” or called a “drama queen.” Their symptoms were often blamed on menstruation, lifestyle factors, or even accused of being made up.
An earlier study from 2021 by the University of Miami looked at whether people take women’s pain as seriously as men’s. It found that even when women showed and reported the same level of pain as men, they were less likely to be prescribed pain relief. Instead, women were more likely to be referred for psychotherapy.
Maybe it’s not surprising, then, that there are so many procedures women are still expected to endure with little to no anaesthetic. IUD insertion and cervical biopsies, for example, are often done without it because they are considered “not painful enough.”
While some women get through them just fine, many others have described the experience as intense and deeply distressing. One woman even called her IUD insertion one of the most traumatic physical experiences of her life. And she’s far from the only one saying it.
Image credits: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels (not the actual photo)
On average, it takes around 9 years to get an endometriosis diagnosis
If women’s complaints weren’t brushed off from the start, conditions like endometriosis would likely be caught much sooner. But right now, that’s far from reality.
A 2026 survey from Endometriosis UK revealed that the average time to receive a diagnosis has now reached 9 years and 4 months. That number has actually gone up from the 8-year average reported in 2020.
39% of respondents said they had to visit their doctor 10 times or more before endometriosis was even suspected. On top of that, 55% ended up going to the emergency room because of their symptoms, and 46% of those were sent home without any treatment at all.
For those unfamiliar with the condition, endometriosis happens when cells similar to the ones lining the uterus start growing in other parts of the body, like the ovaries and fallopian tubes.
These cells react to the menstrual cycle and bleed during a period just like the uterine lining would. But because that blood has nowhere to go, it can cause severe pain, inflammation, and scar tissue.
Part of what makes it so difficult to diagnose is that the only definitive way to confirm it is through a laparoscopy. That’s a surgical procedure where a small camera is inserted into the pelvis so a surgeon can look for signs of the condition.
If endometriosis is found, it can sometimes be treated or removed during the same operation. But as the numbers show, many women never even get to that stage. Their symptoms are dismissed for so long that it takes years before anyone considers the procedure.
Natalie Meagan-Blake shared her own experience with Boots. “I was nine when I started my periods. They were always heavy flowing, to the point that I’d bleed through my clothes, and came with debilitating pain, so I had to miss a lot of school. I was told that this was normal for some people,” she said.
“I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome in my early twenties and endometriosis 10 years after that. In the years leading up to my diagnosis, I experienced all-over pain, brain fog and even blood in my stool, but I was told that it was unlikely that I have endo, like my mum, who is white (historically, the condition was thought to predominantly affect white women).”
Considering how long it takes to get diagnosed and how much pain women go through, you’d think research would be fully focused on the condition itself. Yet somehow, funding still goes toward measuring how it affects men. Hopefully, one day, getting diagnosed won’t take nearly as long and treatment will be a whole lot easier.
Many people in the comments were furious and had plenty to say about it
But some felt like the research could still be useful if it got more people paying attention to endometriosis
The doctor later shared another study that measured how attractive women with the condition were
Image credits: peachy.poler/
It has since been retracted, but people still couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that it was ever published
