Gender can be considered a social determinant of health, in the different pressures and expectations it puts on women and men. For example, the taboos around menstruation are so profound that many young women are dangerously naïve about their own reproductive health. Meanwhile, endometriosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and other conditions associated with chronic pain have a stigma around them that means self-reports are often not taken seriously by health professionals. Historic notions of hysteria have a more profound impact on medical thinking than we might imagine, and in this podcast we ask what can be done to erase these. 

Guest
Gabrielle Jackson (Associate News Editor Guardian Australia, Author Pain and Prejudice)
 
Production
Written and produced by Mic Cavazzini DPhil. Music licenced from Epidemic Sound includes ‘Elm Lake’ by Elm Lake, ‘Soul Single Serenade’ by Dusty Decks, ‘Desert Hideout’ by Christopher Moe Ditlevsen, ‘September Skies’ by Silver Maple, ‘Fugent’ by Lupus Nocte. Image licenced from Getty Images. Voice acting by Paul Curtis. 

Feedback on this episode was kindly provided by physicians of the RACP’s Podcast Editorial Group; Ilana Ginges, Sern Wei Yeoh, Lucy Haggstrom, Nele Legge, Ketih Ooi, Adrienne Torda, Li-Zsa Tan, Loryn Einstein, Vicka Poudyal, Rhiannon Mellor, Rosalynn Pszczola. Other reviewers include Dr Lucy Mitchell and Rebecca Lewis, Elyce Pyzhov, Michelle Daley, Cristiana Palmieri PhD and Dr Anna Sidis DCP.

Please visit the RACP website for a transcript embedded with citations. Fellows of the College can claim CPD credits for listening and additional reading.