New Guidelines Call on Doctors to Take IUD Insertion Pain Seriously

The way that pain has historically been managed has long been influenced by racism and sexism, ACOG noted in the guidance. Studies have found that health care professionals sometimes underestimate how much pain a female patient experiences and don’t perceive female pain to be urgent, said Amanda Williams, a pain researcher and professor of clinical health psychology at University College London.

In a 2016 study co-authored by Dr. Williams, 63 pain doctors and medical students were shown images of people in pain and were asked what the appropriate treatment for that pain would be. Participants suggested “more medical referrals for the male images and more psychologist or psychiatrist referrals for females,” Dr. Williams said. The findings underscore a notion that “women can’t distinguish pain from emotion, whereas men can suppress their emotions and give you a pure account of their pain,” she added.

I had to find the extra context, but wow yeah, the old guidelines are based on super sexist notions 😬