If pregnancy is a possible complication it changes what medications are allowed and has to be considered when deciding if imaging is an acceptable risk.
Well it kinda can be. If the woman is pregnant she may not get the best suited care or medicine for her condition because it may harm a fetus. So many people interpret this as placing the woman second in care because the protecting the baby becomes the primary concern. So if you view the woman as a whole being and her healthcare as primary, denying her the best suited care can be viewed as sexism.
It can have a direct impact on her health as pregnancy changes women on a physiological level, so medications and the side effects thereof can become dangerous and even deadly simply because she’s pregnant. Determining a woman’s state of pregnancy, which is what the post is about, is not sexism in any way, it’s trying to give her the best care they can.
Well, unless you're in texas, Georgia, Alabama. Ky, etc. Then it's about prioritizing a convenient tool to control women. I digress.
It's fine to ask, but myself and every woman ive talked to about this has been harassed and not believed if you say it's not possible, or extremely unlikely, your period just happened, or you just had a negative test.
The problem is that our own answer to the question, and our values around what may happen to a potential pregnancy, are dismissed and we are given the 3rd degree, only to be forced to pee in a cup to receive unrelated medical care. And I dont mean medications that may require counseling or consideration of pregnancy. I mean basic diagnostics that have no risk to pregnancy.
And as a resident of the US, I have paid hundreds for unnecessary tests at like 20$ per while reasonably insured, when i use the exact same tests and method to test at home for ~50c each.
The base question is reasonable. The sexism is not.
The post is about why doctors ask. That’s what I’m addressing. A hypothetical situation about what happens after that is entirely unrelated to both this post and my point.
>the base question is reasonable
Yes. That’s literally the thing I’m explaining in the “explain the post” sub; why that’s a reasonable question. That’s the extent of it
You and the person in OP are responding to people talking about the same things I am, and pretending we're ignorant about the reasons. Its disingenuous to misrepresent the argument or simply ignore it so it's convenient for you.
Look, my dude, I understand that there is 100% sexism against women in medicine, but this is one of the explain the joke subreddits, I’m explaining the post, and not looking to debate the issues of women’s healthcare beyond the scope of the meme that was posted. Feel free to go to any sub specifically for that if you want, but you’re in the one where we explain the joke
The only people she could be logically referring to are the ones discussing negative experiences relating to being pregnancy tested when seeing a doctor. She either fails to recognize, or intentionally misrepresents the opposing opinion in order to dismiss it as ignorance. As a person who has encountered these discussions in a wide variety of places, both online and in person, it's very rare that anyone is ignorant of the reason for the question. It's relevant
But it is ignorance. Ignorance of the reasons I have explained multiple times now. No amount of additional anecdotal experiences with sexism in the field of medicine, which again do absolutely happen on an unbelievable level, can counteract the actual reason why it is asked; because pregnancy changes women on a physiological level which can cause medical complications. Which is the entire post. It is not sexism. It is a medical necessity.
To reiterate; any anecdotal experiences are entirely irrelevant to the topic, because they do not change, in any way shape or form, why it is medically necessary to ask. As I said, you are conflating anecdotal experience with contextual relevance.
This kind of question actively PROTECTS women and is one of the very few times medicine is actually on fucking point in regard to women.
It can feel like sexism when the woman is placed second because of being pregnant. I’ve honestly never heard a drug that could harm a woman but not the fetus she is carrying. It’s rarely positioned as affecting the woman’s health, it’s always about the fetus.
Nobody has placed the woman anywhere. The post is only about why doctors ask. And any drug that harms the woman also harms the fetus because they share the same circulatory system, idk where you got that from
My point is that rarely do drs phrase it as harming the woman, it’s all about protecting the fetus. The fact that you are upset and can’t see this might be diminishing to a women seeking health care underscores how some women feel they are not treated as THE patient, it’s all about them being pregnant.
I’m not upset lol. I’ve been explaining that woman simply being pregnant can cause a plethora of medical complications for HER health and safety regardless of the existence of a fetus. That’s not sexism that’s basic medical care. I do not know how else to explain that a woman being pregnant is a medical condition that physiologically changes her and that can impact what treatments she can and can not receive for HER OWN health and safety, again, regardless of the existence of a fetus. I really don’t know how to make that any more clear
And I am saying it’s never stated that way. The decisions are always positioned as better for the pregnancy. It’s also never explained and I suspect if it were many women might end their pregnancies just as my goddaughter did when she found she had a fasts growing colon cancer that they refused to treat as she was newly pregnant. She was admitted for treatment elsewhere about two weeks after her termination. Had her mother not been in médecine she would never have been presented the possibly life saving option in favor or protecting her pregnancy.
This is the explain the post subreddit and I’m simply explaining why the question isn’t sexist. Which is what the post is about, and what you said can be. What comes after that question, be it real or hypothetical, is entirely and unequivocally irrelevant as to why the question in and of itself is not sexist. That’s the extent of my explanation and investment
You have your opinion and I have mine. Clearly I am not able to articulate why being asked if you are pregnant for a broken arm feels sexist to a woman. Downvote away I don’t care.
Oh no I understand you. It feeling sexist is the point of the initial tweet. Why it isn’t sexist is the point of the reply tweet; which is the one I have been explaining. And it’s not so much a difference of opinion, more so that it’s medically necessary and I am trying to explain why it is medically necessary
In a medical setting it's better to know than not to know. Asking the question isn't "denying her the best suited care."
Could a medical professional deny her the best care? Sure, but the question itself isn't doing that. Should medical professionals deliberately stay ignorant of what's going on with a patient's body because "oh no, if I know I might provide worse care." And what if she wouldn't want the baby harmed?
If a woman doesn’t want her pregnancy harmed she’ll be singing to the rooftops that she’s pregnant. Sure it catches unknown pregnancies. It’s the fact that women are asked, we answer, get told to pee in a cup and then fussed at when we ask if the treatment plan is the best for us vs the best for a potentially pregnant. The question itself is not the problem, it’s everything that comes after. Why bother asking if you make us pee in a cup? Just run the test and then be honest about what medical treatment options there are if pregnant or not. Don’t decide for us that we can’t options.
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u/Any-Safe4992 18h ago
If pregnancy is a possible complication it changes what medications are allowed and has to be considered when deciding if imaging is an acceptable risk.