The medical system was built on the assumption that women feel less pain. This isn’t a joke. It’s not a throwaway line from a bad doctor. It’s a centuries-old foundation that still kills women today.
J. Marion Sims is called the father of modern gynecology. He’s celebrated in medical textbooks. Statues were built in his honor. He developed techniques still used today.
He did it by operating on enslaved Black women without anesthesia.
Between 1845 and 1849, Sims experimented on at least 11 enslaved women. Their names were Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, and others whose names weren’t recorded. Anarcha underwent at least 30 surgeries. Without anesthesia. While awake. While conscious. While screaming.
Sims’ justification was that Black women had “thicker skin” and “less sensitive nerves.” He said they didn’t feel pain the way white women did.
This wasn’t medical science.
It was butchery.
It was slavery.
He built his career on torture. He perfected his techniques on Black women’s bodies. Then he started using anesthesia on white women.
He wasn’t a rogue doctor. He wasn’t an exception. He became president of the American Medical Association. The system celebrated him. The system still celebrates him.
This is the foundation. The assumption that women’s pain is less real, less urgent, less worthy of treatment. It was built into gynecology. It was built into medical education. It’s still there.
The word “hysteria” comes from “hystera”, Greek for uterus. Ancient medicine believed the uterus wandered through a woman’s body causing pain and emotion. The medical establishment has dismissed women’s pain as psychological for thousands of years.
In the 19th century, women’s pain, anxiety, and reproductive symptoms were diagnosed as “hysteria.” They were told it was in their heads. They were subjected to pelvic massage (which is doctors committing sexual assault). They were put on bed rest and told to stop being so emotional.
“Hysteria” wasn’t removed from the DSM until 1980. This isn’t ancient history. The pattern continues today. Women are still told their physical symptoms are anxiety. Depression. Stress. They’re still told it’s in their heads.
The phrases haven’t changed. “It’s just stress.” “You’re being dramatic.” “Have you tried ibuprofen?” “It’s normal for women.” “You’re too emotional.” These are the modern versions of hysteria. Same dismissal. Different century. Same pattern.
Same procedure. Same pain. Different drugs.
Women get ibuprofen. Men get opioids.
Women get acetaminophen. Men get Percocet.
Same root canal.
Same fracture.
Same surgery.
Different prescription.
A 2008 study found men received more aggressive pain treatment after coronary artery bypass surgery. A 2014 study found women were less likely to receive pain medication for abdominal pain in emergency departments — and more likely to receive sedatives instead. Doctors interpret pain scales differently based on gender. A woman reports the same pain level as a man. The doctor perceives it as less severe.
Black women receive the least effective pain relief of all.
Endometriosis affects one in ten women. It causes severe pain. Tissue grows outside the uterus. It causes inflammation, scar tissue, infertility. It’s a real disease with real damage.
Women wait an average of seven to ten years for diagnosis.
During those years, they’re told: “It’s just bad periods.” “You’re being dramatic.” “Try ibuprofen.” “It’s in your head.” The disease progresses. The damage worsens. The pain continues. And women are dismissed.
Autoimmune diseases follow the same pattern. Lupus. Multiple sclerosis. Rheumatoid arthritis. Fibromyalgia. Women are disproportionately affected. And women wait years for diagnosis while being told their symptoms are stress, anxiety, or psychological.
The pattern is identical. Real pain. Real disease. Dismissed as emotional.
Heart attacks kill more women than men. Women are 50% more likely than men to receive a wrong initial diagnosis. Women under 55 are seven times more likely to be misdiagnosed and sent home during a heart attack.
Why?
Because women’s symptoms don’t match the “male model.” The textbook symptoms: crushing chest pain, pain radiating down the left arm, are based upon men. Women experience nausea, fatigue, jaw pain, shortness of breath, back pain. They’re told it’s anxiety. Panic disorder. Stress. Indigestion. The same hysteria pattern. Women are sent home. Women die.
Black women in the United States are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. This holds true regardless of education or income. College-educated Black women have higher mortality rates than white women without a high school diploma.
Serena Williams nearly died after childbirth. She had a pulmonary embolism. She knew something was wrong. She had to advocate for herself repeatedly. She had the platform to demand care. Most Black women don’t.
The “strong Black woman” stereotype kills. It tells doctors that Black women can handle more pain. That they need less help. That their symptoms are less urgent. Black women’s pain is dismissed during childbirth. Their symptoms are ignored. They die preventable deaths.
A 2016 study found that half of white medical students and residents held false beliefs about Black people’s pain tolerance. They believed Black people had “thicker skin.” “Less sensitive nerve endings.” These beliefs directly influenced their pain treatment recommendations.
This wasn’t 1845. This was 2016. In medical schools. Ten years ago…
J. Marion Sims’ beliefs are still being taught. Not explicitly. But in the assumptions. In the treatment. In the prescriptions. The foundation hasn’t changed. Only the language has.
The cost of not being believed is that women stop going to doctors. They stop reporting pain. They assume they won’t be listened to. They suffer at home. They die at home.
The system trains women to expect dismissal, and then punishes them for not seeking care earlier.
This isn’t about bad doctors. Individual physicians make choices within a system built on these assumptions. The medical textbooks were written by men. The pain studies were done on men. The symptoms were documented in men. The dosages were calibrated for men. The system was never built for women’s bodies.
The belief that women feel less pain isn’t a compliment. It’s a death sentence.
Women are dying. Black women are dying more. The assumptions that justified operating on enslaved women without anesthesia are still shaping medical care today. Sims didn’t just build gynecology. He built a system that doesn’t believe women’s pain. That system is still running.
The phrases haven’t changed. The dismissal hasn’t changed. The outcomes haven’t changed.
Women’s pain is real. Women’s pain is physical. Women are dying because the medical system was built on the assumption that they’re exaggerating, emotional, hysterical.
The foundation is rotten. The foundation hasn’t changed.
And women are still paying with their lives.
