I'm calling BS on folks who say it's sexist to ask about migraines.

[RandySF]

After reading this:

I despise Michelle Bachmann's politics and have no doubt this early infatuation some GOP voters have with her will fade.
That being said, from the beginning of this migraine business, I've thought it was sexist, sexist, and sexist. Men get migraines, yes. But women are known to get them more. And because migraines often produce no external symptoms, you have to take the person's word that one is happening. I get them, and from personal experience, people who have never had one think I'm faking it to try to get out of something, or that I'm a weenie who can't handle a little headache.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/07/sexism.php?ref=fpblg

I have to respond.


Migraines may or may not be frequent and severe enough to prevent one from discharging the duties of President. But it is BS to call it sexist. Paul Tsongas was rightfully questioned in 1991 whether his PROSTATE CANCER was fully in remission. Did anyone call sexism for asking about an illness that ONLY strikes men? What happens if we have a candidate who has had ovarian, breast or uterine cancer? I hope we are mature enough to allow her and/or her doctor to comment on her health while giving her the benefit of a doubt and not throw around the "S word".

[gateley]

1. A good friend of mine - a guy - suffered from debilitating migraines.

Don't understand why talking about them is considered sexist. :shrug:

[madokie]

36. I have the aura of migraines quite frequently

Lucky for me I've only had the pain three times and I can tell you one thing and thats there is no pain so severe. The first one I had was the summer after graduating HS. I had no clue as to what it was so I just bulled on through it. It lasted for about 10 days. The other two times I've had the pain it put me to bed for several days.
My sister in law has them and I used to think that she was just trying to get out of doing something and to get the pills, back then the doctors gave her pain meds so I half assed figured she was in it for the meds up and until I woke up about 2 am one morning with the awfullest pain in the right side of my brain and thats when I found out I had migraine and the little light show I get from time to time was the aura of migraine. I don't see anything sexist about migraines.

Migraines suck!

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Migraines = sexist?

Ya learn something new every day. My ex suffered tremendously from them. Mostly stress related in his case.

:shrug:

[Honeycombe8]

3. No, it's not sexist to ask for details about a migraine issue. It's directly related...

to the ability to perform the most important job in the world. And I say this being a feminist.

Besides, I've never thought of or heard that migraines are a "female problem."

[RandySF]

4. Supposedly, they strike women more frequently than men.

[murielm99]

6. This is true.

And it may be hormone related for many women, because migraines diminish or go away entirely as some women enter menopause.

I had them as a kid and outgrew them. Go figure.

We all know men who suffer from them. My uncle does. It affected his ability to do his job, but his boss knew, and worked with him.

I don't think this issue is sexist. It will relate to her ability to do her job, if we truly live in bizarro world and she becomes President.

[Honeycombe8]

7. I see. Thanks. Seems a lot of ailments strike women more than men...

arthritis, and a lot of other things.

I've known a couple of people who have them. I never doubted that they have them. I'm surprised to hear that some people doubt that.

I have a vague recollection of having what I would think would be migraines, as a child. Not very often. But I vaguely recall having, on a few occasions, headaches that were so awful I'd have to go to bed...my head would just pound with every heartbeat. Then they never happened again. They weren't like headaches I might have on occasion now.

[jberryhill]

23. Women live longer

Any ailment prevalent in those of advanced age, e.g. arthritis, is going to afflict more women than men, because there are more older women than men.

There are also ailments which afflict more men than women.

[tblue37]

13. But another kind of debilitating headache--cluster headaches--predominantly strike

men. In fact, "lion-headed" mean--i.e., men with large, wide heads and faces, tend to get them more than other people.

[DainBramaged]

20. My beloved ex gets debilitating cluster headaches

:cry:

[enlightenment]

5. I get 'cluster headaches' - which my doctor told me are the

'male' version of migraines. I'm female, which is the only reason he mentioned it, I think.

I don't think the headaches - whatever they call them - care what gender the suffer happens to be . . .

[ncrainbowgrrl]

37. Clusters are NOT male form of Migraine... It's just that more males than females get clusters.

The two are VERY different animals. Clusters are Headaches, Migraine is a genetic Neurological Disease which may/may not present w/head pain.

The below information is taken from mymigraineconnection.com

Cluster Headaches

Basic Migraine info

[richmwill]

8. Total BS to call it "sexist".

I'm a guy, and when I was younger I got migraine headaches often. Even ended up hospitalized at one point due to the doctors wanting to figure out why they were happening to me so often.

[Lugnut]

9. I am a migraine sufferer.

They are not any old kind of headache. A few men in my family have been migraine sufferers as well. It's not a gender specific illness by any means.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

38. Hugs. I am also. Sorry to see another one of us here w/Migraine Disease!

It IS a GENETIC disease though.. Thus, seeing it in family trees isn't uncommon.
:hug:

[REP]

10. Well, I do reliably get more intense migraines with my period...

...but asking about migraines isn't sexist.

[provis99]

11. I wonder.

Would the concern trolls also call it sexist if a male politician were asked about his hemophilia, since only males bear the effects?

[Lucian]

12. I'm a man and get migraines.

How is it sexist questioning her's?

That article is BS.

[Lil Missy]

14. To play devils advocate - would this have been brought up with any of the men?

Probably not. The migraines are not sexist, it's the fact that migraines would not even be mentioned as an issue with any of the men. It also hearkens back to times in the not so distant past when women were declared unsuitable for the Presidency, or CEO's, or other high level positions, because menstruation made them too moody and unstable for such important jobs.

[Kennah]

15. Not sexist, and has nothing to do with migraines

We all really just wanted to know about the psychotropic drugs she takes, but that's a tough one to weave into an interview.

[Bunny]

16. Paul Tsongas was questioned because he had cancer, not because

he had prostate cancer. It had nothing to do with having a variant of cancer that only strikes men.

[Motown_Johnny]

17. How about asking if the medication she is on turns her from blithering idiot to

bat guano crazy lunatic?


It isn't like Rush wasn't rallying the RW masses while abusing prescription drugs, she might easily be doing the same.



It seems like the more pertinent question to me.

[Progress Now]

18. It has sexist overtones

Women suffer from them more often, and there's an implication she isn't tough enough to "work through them". There's also the old saw about women, headaches, and performance ..."not tonight, dear, I have a headache."

Bigotry is often nuanced with the offender not totally aware of it's influence.

[DainBramaged]

21. Complete bullshit

as a former migraine sufferer I call bullshit.

[jberryhill]

22. Women also get ovarian cancer

And if a candidate for President of the United States was blotto for days after regular chemo treatments it would be a valid concern.

As would a candidate with prostate or testicular cancer.

The question is whether a candidate for President of the United States suffers from a condition that would render that candidate incapacitated on a regular basis.

Simply because this candidate may have a condition that afflicts more women than men does not make the concern sexist.

Sexism is about one's views of the sexes as a class. This is about the evaluation of an individual.

[Progress Now]

25. I pretty much agree with your definition of sexism

But this particular health concern is fueled, at least in part, by the fact the candidate is a woman.

Migraines aren't cancer. Do we really believe they disqualify someone from becoming President? And would that suggestion have been made or taken as seriously had the candidate been a man? I don't believe so.

[snooper2]

27. I'm not sure it's been proven that Bachmann is a woman

I think she is some kind of mutated crazy moon creature but haven't quite figured it out yet :rofl:

[jberryhill]

28. Missing the issue again

The question is whether the candidate has a debilitating condition that, according to her staff, frequently renders her incapacitated.

You are correct, "migraines are not cancer". In fact, there was some concern about John McCain's melanoma. It was not driven by bias against people from sunny climates.

Migraine sufferers can have episodic manifestations which are mild and rare, to frequent and severe.

The frequency, severity, and nature of medication is the concern here, and has utterly nothing to do with gender.

But Welcome to DU, and thank you for signing up today to bring this important viewpoint about unfair treatment of Ms. Bachmann to everyone's attention.

[DainBramaged]

19. I'm an old male fucker and I had SEVERE migraines most of my adult life

until they took out the first brain tumor. More poutrage by the nanny patrol on DU.

[seabeyond]

24. who is calling it sexist. if used in a sexist manner from uneducated that assume it is a female

illness. along with vapors ect...

if we are talking merely about migraine and the effects, that is one thing. both genders get migraine. tend more to women, but is not gender specific.

if we talk about it as a woman being weak as in the past history has done, then it is sexist. kinda like the australian dude used periods for the reason a woman is paid less.

i have not seen people yell sexist, but then i have not been participating much in the threads.

[Fuzz]

26. I agree. I'm a guy, used to get SEVERE migraines. I would be good for nothing

for at least a day.

[hifiguy]

29. In my late teens I occasionally got horrible migraines

but for some reason they went away in my early 20s. They're equal opportunity misery.

[demmiblue]

30. I haven't seen people call it sexist (besides your link).

:shrug:

[handmade34]

32. can find it throughout the media

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/07/michele_bachmann_gets_cripplin.html
http://theweek.com/article/index/217397/is-the-michele-bachmann-migraine-story-sexist

and many others...


as a migraine sufferer, I believe it to be a valid concern

[Gidney N Cloyd]

33. Me-Me-Mika on Morning Joe was calling it sexist.

She couldn't justify it but that didn't stop her from digging in and shutting down the other panelists over it.

[UTUSN]

31. OMZ, apparently "sexism" absolves any woman anywhere from accountability.

I detest Quitter/BACHMANN slightly less than Shrub-KKKarl-CHEENEE and the rest, but I can call the latter group "pricks" but can't call the former the parallel expletive.


I grew up in a traditional nuclear family, but the mother and two sisters definitely led the father and me and I was quite at home with strong women, embraced the Liberation of the '70s, worked/voted for female candidates.


So, as I've said about all the other constituent groups within the Democratic coalition, membership in a minority group does not confer freedom from accountability, criticism, or ridicule ("ridicule" - think, my calling Alberto GONZALES, Ruben NAVARRETTE, and Clarence THOMAS "houseboys").


ON EDIT**********But I think my previous comments here are getting off the point, the point staying with the migraine bit: The ABSURDITY that asking her about her migraines, or indeed her entire medical history, and commenting about her migraines, and RIDICULING her about migraines is "SEXIST"!1

[yellowcanine]

34. I don't think it is "sexist" but it is not a particularly intelligent line of inquiry either.

This kind of thing plays right into Bachman's strategy of trying to present herself as a reasonable person. Lots of people get migraines or know people who do. So most people know that migraines can be effectively managed with prescription and over the counter drugs. Making this an issue will only help Bachman by detracting attention from her outrageous and extremist views. And attacking someone for a physical weakness is never a good idea in politics.

[bobbolink]

35. Please read the article in Psychology Today, mentioned in this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=1559331