|
ME/CFS South Australia Inc supports the needs of sufferers of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and related illnesses. We do this by providing services and information to members.
Disclaimer
ME/CFS South Australia Inc aims to keep members informed of various research projects, diets, medications, therapies, news items, etc. All communication, both verbal and written, is merely to disseminate information and not to make recommendations or directives.
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed on this Web site are not necessarily the official views of the Society or its Committee and are not simply an endorsement of products or services.
| Become a Member | ||||
|
||||
ME Affects Four Times More Women Than Men – Dismissing This Terrifying Illness Is Sexist
Monday 8 April 2019
 Chloe McNaught |
ME Affects Four Times More Women Than Men – Dismissing This Terrifying Illness Is Sexist
Like Victorian women being branded 'hysterical', women like my best friend are being silenced
“ME, that’s the one where you don’t feel like going to work today,” Ricky Gervais once quipped on-stage.
He voices a common feeling. I have heard someone casually proclaim that they must have chronic fatigue after a busy week in the office. A friend once told me in confidence that she thought her co-worker who took time off work for ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) had fabricated her condition. A teacher I know joked over dinner that he suspected that his student who misses school because of the illness was likely having a jolly time at home watching television. Even a recent Sunday Times column referred to ME as “yuppie flu”, an outdated term that implies the illness is the preserve of an indulged youth. It is comments like these that I have become more attuned to since my friend Chloe became unwell. Yet what is little acknowledged is that ME disproportionately affects women – in fact, four times more women than men suffer from it. So we need to ask ourselves, is our dismissal of ME sexist?
I have watched my best friend crawl up a staircase and fall unconscious, unable to drag herself to the top. I have seen her lie comatose on the stone slabs of a public building for an hour because she didn’t have the energy to sit in her wheelchair. Once, I had to help her drink through a straw as she lay corpse-like on my bathroom floor unable to lift her head. I have seen first-hand the extent that ME can completely upend a woman’s life.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Previous Page |
Registered Charity 3104
Email:
sacfs@sacfs.asn.au
Mailing address:
PO Box 322,
Modbury North,
South Australia 5092
Phone:
1300 128 339
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday,
10am - 4pm
(phone)