Videos of men testing period pain simulators are going viral as “proof” of how bad that time of the month can get ... But are menstrual cramps unavoidable? A doctor explains.
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00:00i tried a period cramp simulator. it all started when my sister told me periods were worse than
00:05getting kicked in the balls. my boyfriend is gonna try the period simulator. okay i'm dead i'm dead
00:15so the concept that we need to compare period pain to getting kicked in the testicles like
00:31first of all why does this content go viral because it's catchy and we love this idea of
00:36like the no this is worse that's worse it's like this pain competition and that's really stupid
00:41because nobody's benefiting from that the biggest myths that i hear all the time about periods both
00:46in person and on social media are that periods are supposed to hurt and when you get your period
00:51life is supposed to shut down you're it's okay if you miss school it's just the worst
00:55time of the month and you just have to suck it up and deal with it and that is totally not true
01:12so hormone imbalance isn't actually a medical diagnosis if what you mean by that term is that
01:21you're having irregular cycles that could be related to your hormones estrogen and progesterone
01:26not being in the right ratios at the right times of your cycle and so this can lead to
01:32abnormal periods in that what you're not getting is the normal building up of the lining of the
01:36uterus and then when you don't get pregnant it sloughs off and you have a period and so you may
01:40only have very irregular periods and when you do have them there may be a lot that's there
01:45that comes out and that can be heavy and crampy and painful
01:56and it's true that periods can be you know the time that you get your period can be crampy or
02:00uncomfortable but it's not supposed to stop your life you shouldn't have to be losing days at work
02:05or taking off from school for a couple days every every single month i mean that's just not the way
02:10to live and the fact that society even thinks that that might be normal shows us just how
02:16messed up we view periods and how little we know about our bodies
02:35so let's be real if men and penis owners had periods we would not at all have this concept
02:46in our minds that periods just suck we'd have 27 different treatments like it's definitely
02:51a gender bias thing and we have studies that show that in all aspects of health care women
02:57their pain is taken less seriously their disorders where they you know suffer from exclusively tend
03:03to be diagnosed later a great example is endometriosis or adenomyosis or fibroids it's
03:09this idea of like well that's just what being a woman is right child birth just sucks so suck it
03:14up having a period just sucks and we're told that we're strong and we're tough and we're just supposed
03:19to deal with it people with vaginas who are of color they do way worse when it comes to getting
03:29their problems diagnosed treated taken seriously so they face this bias every single day and in the
03:33doctor's office that's no difference and so as a health care provider i think the best thing you
03:38can do when it comes to taking these things seriously is acknowledge your bias when i am
03:42caring for somebody who's different than me and there's lots of ways that people can be different
03:47than me whether it's weight or color or gender expression is i stop and i do what's called an
03:52implicit bias check where i just think okay jen would i be treating this patient differently if
03:56they were the ceo of a company and they were white and rich and famous or is this the exact
04:01same treatment that i'd give to everybody and my goal is to always give that same treatment
04:05but acknowledging my humanity and trying to to check that
04:17don't ever be told it's all in your head or you just need to relax or you need to have more sex
04:22or you need to have a glass of wine and these are all terrible things that i have had people say
04:26that other health care providers have said to them and you would never say that to somebody
04:30who has diabetes and needs treatment for high blood sugars you wouldn't say well that's just
04:35all in your head and if you have spoken up and you have been brushed off or not taken seriously
04:40i want to give you permission to never go back to that health care provider again
04:44because pain is real and you matter and we have so many ways that we can make you feel better and
04:50there's no need to suffer in this day and age