GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PAIN PERCEPTION How the Treatment of Pain is Affected Maggie Schutte
Pain is subjective. There is no concrete, standardized method with which to measure “pain.” The perception of pain, too, is nearly impossible to evaluate in others, yet by acknowledging the complex nature of pain as more than just its biological basis, it becomes clear that pain relies on both body and mind to encompass biological, psychological, and cultural influences on pain. These factors are interdependent in the conceptualization of the causes of pain, providing a more understandable method with which to perceive and compare pain. Why? Over the past few decades, the discussion of and innovative research on gender differences in pain perception has gained notable traction. The research community agrees that there are clear differences between the experience of pain for men and womxn, with womxn generally reporting greater, more frequent, and longer-lasting pain. When comparing the treatment of pain for men and womxn, though, womxn are more likely to receive less adequate treatment compared with men. The issue this creates is one of severe undertreatment, misdiagnosis, and underdiagnosis among womxn. The treatment of womxn by healthcare professionals can be skewed and harmful due to the gender-based biases and stereotypes held against both womxn and the validity of womxn’s pain experiences. Because of these biases, it is more likely that healthcare professionals will disregard a womxn’s self-report of pain unless objective evidence arises - a practice aligned with the very outdated medical model focused on objective pain. The lack of education of healthcare professionals on this topic resulted in the widespread ineptitude of the treatment of pain throughout the world. So as to acknowledge possible solutions to these issues, it is important to first discuss the factors of pain perception in order to then understand why
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men and womxn have differences in their experiences with pain. This will also help explain why and how womxn are treated for their pain inadequately, along with why genderbased biases exist in relation to pain treatment. Until a few decades ago, clinical research studies around the world still excluded womxn from participating. This inevitably led to a complete lack of education and understanding about the gender differences in fundamental health-care knowledge such as disease prevalence, progression, and response to treatment. Since 1993, the National Institute of Health’s legislation mandating the inclusion of womxn and minorities in research has helped encourage innovative research on sex and gender-based differences in pain responses. Around the mid 1990s, roughly half of the existing studies documented no significant difference between gender-based responses to pain, while the other half generally found womxn to have slightly lower pain thresholds and higher pain ratings. As studies continued to advance, increasing empirical evidence signaled that a clear difference existed between gender-based responses to pain was observed. The question shifted soon after to focus on why these experiments were producing such results. Specifically, were the differences in pain perception based on biological differences, psychological influences, or something else entirely? There are any number of potential biological explanations for gender-based differences in the response to pain. Studies using reproductive hormones, for example, have shown their clear influence on sex-based pain as they are used in processes like the menstrual cycle, during which a womxn’s pain sensitivity increases for part of the cycle. Another known contributor is the brain and central nervous system. Neural mechanisms such as networks and impulses sent to
