I am a middle aged woman and I think I can speak to this issue. Doctors seem to be oblivious to the needs of women. When I have needed meds I have found that doctors do not listen, hell they barely look at you. They treat us like children, ignoring our concerns and overlaying their own opinion of who we are on top of what we have already said to them. We never know when we will be denied the meds we need due to the doctor deciding we are nothing more than big fat children and not trustworthy or mature enough to handle our own lives, so we stockpile to protect ourselves from the time we are denied access because we failed to wear makeup that day. Add to that the physical pain that comes with aging, the refusal of men to take on more of the domestic load, our failing bodies, society's way of making us invisible, feeling terrible due to imbalanced hormones, an improper American diet that doctors refuse to address, on top of all of that we must never get wrinkle or grey and still be alluring as hell and ready for sex. And people wonder why we are killing ourselves? Our misogynistic society is to blame, not the women. We also know what is waiting for us when we get old. We will burden the women in our family, continuing the cycle of domestic servitude, or we will be forced into what amounts to a mental institution also known as a nursing home. Nursing homes should be called old age warehouses complete with scabies, bed sores, no privacy and are dehumanizing in every way. There is no elder care system in this country because women are not valued. Period. Why put up with all that crap? Because our society refuses to value and care for us the way WE want to be cared for, we make the rational decision to take control of our own destiny. And why not, it may be the only self determining act some women will ever take in their entire lives. I will wait until my family tells me it is time to be warehoused before I take my bottle of pills. Some women just want it to be over with now. I don't blame them one bit. Want to save middle aged women? Stop treating us like punching bags. A woman asking for consideration and respect is like shoveling snow in the wind.
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I am a middle aged woman and I think I can speak to this issue. Doctors seem to be oblivious to the needs of women. When I have needed meds I have found that doctors do not listen, hell they barely look at you. They treat us like children, ignoring our concerns and overlaying their own opinion of who we are on top of what we have already said to them. We never know when we will be denied the meds we need due to the doctor deciding we are nothing more than big fat children and not trustworthy or mature enough to handle our own lives, so we stockpile to protect ourselves from the time we are denied access because we failed to wear makeup that day. Add to that the physical pain that comes with aging, the refusal of men to take on more of the domestic load, our failing bodies, society's way of making us invisible, feeling terrible due to imbalanced hormones, an improper American diet that doctors refuse to address, on top of all of that we must never get wrinkle or grey and still be alluring as hell and ready for sex. And people wonder why we are killing ourselves? Our misogynistic society is to blame, not the women. We also know what is waiting for us when we get old. We will burden the women in our family, continuing the cycle of domestic servitude, or we will be forced into what amounts to a mental institution also known as a nursing home. Nursing homes should be called old age warehouses complete with scabies, bed sores, no privacy and are dehumanizing in every way. There is no elder care system in this country because women are not valued. Period. Why put up with all that crap? Because our society refuses to value and care for us the way WE want to be cared for, we make the rational decision to take control of our own destiny. And why not, it may be the only self determining act some women will ever take in their entire lives. I will wait until my family tells me it is time to be warehoused before I take my bottle of pills. Some women just want it to be over with now. I don't blame them one bit. Want to save middle aged women? Stop treating us like punching bags. A woman asking for consideration and respect is like shoveling snow in the wind.
July 5, 2013 - 2:30pmThis Comment
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