So, we've all seen films or film clips where a man gasps, clutches his left arm, and falls to the floor having a heart attack. I'd imagine none of you have seen this happen to a woman in a film.
How many people know the symptoms of heart attack in a female, or even know that they differ from those in males? Did you know that females generally don't get the pain down one arm or the sudden, excruciating pain on one side of the chest?
Everyone knows about those two male symptoms, and tends to consider them universal, because that's what people get taught as the 'heart attack symptoms', not the 'male heart attack symptoms'.
It's ridiculous that even in a medical /first aid setting, you can show a topless male to point to areas where symptoms occur and to demonstrate CPR, but a topless female? God no! Our eyes might implode, or we'll all be overcome by our libidos and unable to restrain ourselves, because female nudity is inherently sexual, right? FFS.
So many people I've talked to don't realise that there are different symptoms, and I can't recall a single time in my life where I've seen or heard this mentioned (aside from non-mainstream internet sites).
Surely it's time as a society to get rid of this ridiculous idea of nudity of any gender being sexual or erotic - it's just skin filled with muscle, fat, bone and blood. Sure, in a specific context it can be arousing, but just being shown a random unclothed body shouldn't be such a taboo.
Websites ban images of topless females, (but not of topless males, that's fine...) women aren't allowed to be topless in public in much of the world, (whereas men generally are - even in Britain, where there's no law against public nudity, there's a public decency law - it's hurtful that my body can be deemed 'indecent', just because of my genitalia) because apparently a woman's naked body is not only always sexual, but is also immodest, shameful, and should never be seen.
There are so many aspects to the equality battle that have yet to be won, and the sad truth that we will probably still not have gender equality by the time I leave this earth fills me with sadness, anger, and loss of hope in the human race. How do humans constantly mess such simple things up so badly? Our progress seems to constantly be two steps forwards and then one back.
What are the female symptoms??? I agree with the analysis - at the school where I work loads of posters have appeared this last week highlighting areas on inequality - but I want to know about the heart attack symptoms too pls!
ReplyDelete...I know, I know...
Well women are lucky - we get looooads of possible symptoms to choose from!
ReplyDeleteFemales tend to have much subtler symptoms than males, and they're not all the same person to person. Women don't always experience chest pain, but when they do, it can often feel like a tightness or an ache, or a "tiredness" in the chest - as if they've just run a marathon, when they haven't done anything particularly strenuous.
Pain in the arms, back, neck or jaw is a common symptom for women. It can be gradual or sudden, and it can come and go before getting intense.
Stomach pains, and feelings of nausea, indegestion, heatburn and vomiting are also often experienced, as are feelings of lightheadedness, weakness, fatigue, and sweating.
In general, women experience mor 'atypical' smptoms than those of men, so any abnormal or unexplained pains like these should be monitored closely and reported to a medical professional.