Disparities in Pain Management Are Harming Women and Queer People
Compared to other symptoms or side-effects, pain is one of the biggest concerns for patients who suffer from a multitude of other symptoms. Not only does pain regularly cause human suffering and discomfort, it also leads to frequent stigmatization of chronic patients as “drug-seeking” or exaggerating (Edwards, et al., (2025).
Though the experience of pain is largely subjective and the perception of it depends on many environmental and individual factors, it is still seen as a highly unpleasant experience that should be avoided. Due to the severity of unpleasantness associated with pain, many organizations and scholars deem pain-management to be a simple human right, and denying pain-management without reasoning is viewed as a human rights violation (Edwards, et al. 2025; Fishman, (2007). Pain management as a basic human right does not only concern with whether any pain-management is provided at all, but it also considers whether the pain-management was given in a timely fashion and whether the management was appropriate for the severity of the pain concerned (Imani & Safari, 2011).
However, while pain-management is considered as a basic human right, not all humans get equal access to timely and appropriate pain-management in healthcare (Ruben & Stosic, 2024). Women, and particularly women of colour regularly encounter issues while trying to seek help for their pain (Guzikevits, et al., 2024). Namely, many women experience the questioning of their credibility, undermining of their pain and flat-out refusal to give them any management options when they go to seek healthcare from major institutions such as hospitals or pain clinics (Tosas, 2021; Collier, 2018) In the imaginary eyes of the healthcare system, not all women are created equal. People who previously experienced problematic substance use issues or women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds encounter heightened stigmatization and undermining of their pain, even though they have higher rates of chronic pain (Voon, et al., (2021); Prego-Domínguez, et al., (2021); Jackson et al., (2015). Besides cisgender women experiencing stigmatization while seeking pain-management, queer and 2SLGBTQ+ people also experience significant issues while seeking care for pain due higher rates of poverty and the fears surrounding mistreatment by healthcare professionals (Abd-Elsayed, Heyer & Schatman, 2021).
The consequences of not getting proper pain-management is not simple. Chronic pain patients in particular who experience stigma experience worse health outcomes, more significant issues in self-confidence and greater chances of shame and self-blame (Perugiono, et al. (2022); Bean, et al., (2022)). I would like to come clean and admit that the academic and almost “neutral” tone of this article would be misleading. Inequalities surrounding pain management are not only an academic interest of mine, but it is also a personal issue to me, as many of my dearest friends and loved-ones experience conditions and disorders that cause chronic-pain. When I reflect and think about the many times I worriedly waited for a loved-ones to confirm that they were okay after a particularly bad pain flare-up, I start to feel uneasy. The days that have been lost to agony are bad enough, though it is possible to cope with many hardships if you are at least not blamed for it. Blaming and stigmatizing those who are suffering from consistent pain, especially women and people of colour, leaves them with no safe places to return when their bodies may already feel like a battleground.
Pain indeed is “only in your head.” This doesn’t mean it is not real or that it doesn’t need management. Healthcare, academia and overall society need to step up to investigate different ways of supporting, or at least not harming those who are not a stranger to pain. When I think about everyone whom I love who felt the fear of judgement as soon as they felt the pain, I want to tell one thing: I love you and I always believed you.
By: İlhan Yalçın | Blog Committee Member
References
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