I’m not a woman, so I have no idea what they struggle with on a daily basis.
And I’m not going to pretend that I do.
But, I have a mom, two sisters, and a lot of female friends, so I do my best to try to understand the issues that they believe are important.
And I’m going to learn some more today, which is always a good thing.
AskReddit users talked about women’s issues that they believe are often overlooked.
Here’s what they had to say.
1. Don’t feel guilty.
“Postpartum Depression
It’s so much more common than people think but many mothers feel too guilty to reach out for help because they think everything is supposed to be amazing after getting the baby.”
2. Need to know.
“Prolapse!
I was properly shocked when I learned about this surprisingly somewhat common side effect from childbirth.”
3. The important stuff.
“Having access to pads and tampons.
Most women have access to pads and tampons in my country, but we often forget about the women who don’t.
Also s** education is not good. We need to be teaching about anatomy, periods, and menopause.”
4. Trauma.
“The time it takes to heal from trauma. And money.
I’ve been in therapy for 4 years, read a hundred books on healing, gone to retreats, etc. and I’m sitting there this Saturday in a circle of women who are about to talk and cry for 6 hours on a Saturday… like what are our r**ists doing right now?
Cause they aren’t sitting in a circle talking about their feelings trying desperately to feel good in life again.”
5. Keeping up appearances.
“The extra time, energy, and money that must be spent to look professional.
I sometimes try to throw my hands up and say “f**k it, let them think I’m ugly,” and I stop plucking my eyebrows for awhile, no makeup, etc… and I’m treated noticeably different.”
6. Ridiculous.
“I have endometriosis, terrible genetics, and my husband and I don’t want children.
Getting an IUD was still a pain in the a**.
Why must women suffer to avoid being even TEMPORARILY infertile?”
7. Cult-like.
“The cult/religion I was raised in taught little girls and young women that if they weren’t virgins(regardless of whether it was something they consented to) then they were worth less then a chewed piece of gum on the street.
I’m a dude and I was only taught that I should stay a virgin until marriage because it’s a sin. I didn’t learn what they taught to the women until a few months before I left that cult/religion while I was attending the college they own.
There’s also a ton of victim blaming. There was a girl who was kicked out of the cult/religion’s college because her r**ist said she drank al**hol on the night he r**ed her. The r**ist was allowed to stay, and as far as I know, didn’t get any serious consequences.”
8. THIS.
“The fact that s**ual harassment often starts before a girl is even an adult.
The fact that women grow up learning that their most important source of value is in their appearance, and other women also participate in reinforcing it.”
9. Never thought of this.
“Nearly every safety invention is designed for the average man. Airbags, seatbelts, dosages for drugs, safety bars on roller coasters, etc.
Look, I know we can’t all custom order cars with different sized belts and bags, etc, but women can sustain serious injuries because safety features aren’t meant for them.”
10. Definitely wrong.
“In my country feminine hygiene products are subject to the same tax as luxury items.
Something seems wrong there.”
11. Shouldn’t be this hard.
“My inability to get sterilized. I do not want children. I never have, never will. I will never have children to please a partner. If a partner wants children, they’re not the one for me.
I want to be sterilized so I have a very very very minimal chance of getting pregnant. But I cannot do it because I’m too young, I’ll change my mind, my partner might want kids, etc.
It shouldn’t be this hard for me to make a choice on my own body but I am sure about.”
12. The view from overseas.
“In my country, Bangladesh, women are blamed for everything wrong that happens.
For example if a girl marries a guy and after years the guy d**s of a disease or something people will say “the girl ate the guy” meaning anyone who marries the girl will d**.
Another example is that when women are s**ually assaulted people say stuff like “why did the girl go in front of guys? Why did the girls go out at night? why did the girl wear short dresses in front of guys?”
STOP.
This is what Asian girls go through. I hope one day girlblaming will come to an end.”
13. Scary stuff.
“Pregnancy consequences in general.
Pregnancy is scary.
I’ve decided not to have kids and some of it stems from absolute terror at all the stuff that can happen because of it.”
Now we want to hear from you.
In the comments, tell us what women’s issues you think are often overlooked.
Thanks in advance!
