Mammograms have been an issue for women ever since they started. And may I add, the compression technique was invented and implemented by....
Well, if compression facilitates a clearer scan, then that’s the better approach, no? If there are better techniques/technology, great. But I’m not going to reject the whole thing just because some man was the originator of it.
You have to take into consideration that just because you found a mammogram easy breezy doesn't mean the rest of women do. It's kinda like with pap smear, I know so many women who absolutely loath it and find it painful and I barely feel anything other than a pinch when I go for one.
No, I understand people have different tolerances for discomfort and pain. Personally, the yucky experience of a boob-squish, Pap smear, or rectal exam is 1000x outweighed by the utility and benefit of it. Yes, sometimes Pap smears have hurt, sometimes I have teared up or bled after, and they always feel kind of sickening…but I guess I’m just not of a mindset generally to be more than minorly inconvenienced. Call me goal-oriented, but pain in service of a good is just one of those things, not something to complain about or blow up into dread. And I react against excessive dwelling on momentary negatives, both because that’s life and because dread leads to avoidance (and these checkups shouldn’t be avoided) and tension (and tension increases pain). **and I want young women to do the necessary and take care of themselves**
As for mammograms, I had my first around 40, due to family history (at the time the recommended starting age had gone up to 50 for most women, though I believe it’s back to 40 now, given that 1/6 breast cancers are found 40-50) and have had a handful since. Then and now, the tissue is firm/dense and can only squish so far (one tech actually kind of complained about it, the bitch). So yeah, it’s painful in a way, but not exactly like getting a limb ripped off, so I consider it discomfort rather than horrible pain. Not something I’d like to do for hours at a time, but it doesn’t qualify as some kind of traumatic horror. And a lot less painful than chemo/ radiation/ mastectomy/ powerful drugs’ side effects.
Anyway, not trying to be dismissive, just to put some things in perspective. I’d take any one of these diagnostic exercises over, say, a broken toe, strained ankle, or even a blistering sunburn, for sure.
We have mammogram from 80 years ago, and speculum from the 19th century (also invented by a man).
OK, though a speculum seems fit for purpose to me. And I’ve had gyns warm it or at least say “hey, this might be cold.” Appreciated, but jfc, I just can’t see how to go through life being seriously knocked around by minor discomforts like these. They’re not trying to hurt you - some things - like getting at your insides - are just not going to be comfortable. But it’s just business.
But if a man call his doctor, and says his dick doesn't stand up, there will be 20 different solutions available.
This is absolutely true. And there will be insurance coverage for male-only innovative technology, not so much for innovations that primarily benefit women. …related, there was a time (mid/late 90s) when HMOs were the thing and coverage cut way back, even in top-tier plans, which I had at the time. Insurance completely stopped covering birth control. But they sure as shit covered
Viagra - which had
only been patented in 1996 and FDA-approved in 1998. That was such a fucking insult. In practical terms, bcp was about $120/month (for reference, median household income in 1998 was around $38k, compared to around $74k today, so consider a ~$200/mo expense today), and of course needs to be continuous and timely, so you can’t delay or scrimp. That bar on coverage didn’t last too long, but it did happen. I agree 100% women’s health concerns and innovations are very often sidelined, dismissed, or not paid for. And though on the consumer side there are fewer obvious disparities in terms of coverage, I agree with you that innovation itself, by interest and R&D research, still disfavors women-specific situations.
Sorry to double-post, but I didn’t see this comment before and it relates to the topic of discrimination in healthcare:
won't let me reply -- @
RussianBlonde
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT ON ALL COUNTS.
additionally, you should opt for ULTRASOUND which is PAINLESS and the NEXT STEP ANYWAY IF THE BOOB MASHER FOUND ANYTHING.
MOTHERFUCK MAMMOGRAMS.
That is not always an option, practically speaking.
You do make a good point, though, about whether ultrasound (and sorry, in my last reply to
@RussianBlonde , I completely spaced about ultrasound) should be a (COVERED) first-line diagnostic, at least in certain cases.
PL: my mother had breast cancer that wasn’t detected by the mammo, and her concerns were dismissed by her (MALE) doc who wouldn’t order a second-line diagnostic for TWO YEARS bc the mammo didn’t show anything of concern. Terror, and terrible treatment ensued. 10 years later, when it recurred, yet another (MALE) doc botched the prognosis. If she’d listened to him, she’d be dead. She didn’t, and got appropriate, if very painful, treatment. As it was, she has had 30+ years of immense physical and psychological costs that could have been avoided if her docs had simply not been dismissive of her absolutely valid - and CORRECT - concerns, and if insurance had been sufficiently responsive to individual situations for women-specific health concerns.
Coda: her initial doc, who dismissed her correct concerns, died some years later of liver cancer, and though I don’t like that I feel this way, I’m glad. 
