Women and their hormones

“I was asked this morning on Fox News whether a woman’s hormones prevented her from serving in the Oval Office."
Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett Packard CEO

According to a recent survey (n = 2.000 from across the UK) carried out by Expert Market, more than half of people (54%) believe that women's behaviour at work is dictated by their hormones. Most of the people also think that gender bias is a myth, do not believe in the gender pay gap (63%), and say that they have never experienced discrimination against women (86%) (via).



“The survey essentially shows that most people do not think there is much discrimination going on, but conflictingly, they do believe in damaging stereotypes such as that the women they work with make decisions due to their hormones. It might appear harmless enough to say these things, but when these same people are making hiring and firing decisions you have to believe it might impact who they select for a role or how they interact with their colleagues.”
Grace Garland



Women being dictated by their hormones is a wide spread myth. This year, a female businesswoman in Texas said Hillary Clinton should not be president because her hormones may make her so irrational she will start an unnecessary war. Time magazine declared Hillary Clinton the perfect age to be president ... because she is a postmenopausal woman who is biologically primed to lead (via).

"We're built differently, we have different hormones. In the world that we live in, I understand that there's equal rights and that's a wonderful thing and I support all of that. I don't support a woman being president."
Cheryl Rios, CEO of Go Ape Marketing



I can only come to the conclusion that I should have listened to feminist current:

"Ladies, have I got a protip for you! Do not Google any topic that includes the words female, leadership, and hormones. Don’t do it because you will see pages and pages of articles like this and this and this, leading you to assault your own computer, and repairs will be expensive. Also, “hormones” will be blamed for the tech-assault."

::: Arnie taking a ballet lesson from Marianne Claire in October 1976: WATCH



photographs of Arnold Schwarzenegger (1976) via and via and via and via

Anorexia Nervosa and the Forgotten Gender

Women have always been the gender associated with anorexia, starting with Richard Morton's description of an anorectic girl in 1691. In the following centuries, the eating disorder was referred to by various authors who observed the disorder primarily in young women (Lange, 2012). Today, not much seems to have changed as statistics clearly show that - although the number of anorectic men is rising - more women than men are affected. However, ...

 

... eating disorders may be overlooked in some groups, i.e. in boys and men as they might not show the "typical" symptoms. Males are less likely to use purging behaviours (vomiting, using laxatives to control weight). In addition, they don't talk about the desire to be thin but to be fit and healthy - which does not set off the alarm bell that quickly. As a result, they are underdiagnosed, undertreated and misunderstood (Strother et al., 2012). Wooldridge calls men the "forgotten gender" when it comes to eating disorders. Since diagnosis and treatment criteria were developed with girls and women in mind, one of the four features of anorexia nervosa (according to DSM IV) is the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles - quite a challenge for boys and men and therefore criticised for its gender bias.

 

"You are not a sketch. Say no to anorexia" is an anti-anorexia campaign that shows typical fashion sketches next to airbrushed models who would be the size the illustrations suggest. (photos via)

 

Holdcroft, A. (2007) Gender bias in research: how does it affect evidence based medicine? Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 100(2), 2-3
Lange, B. (2012) Untersuchung der Phospholipidderivate N-Acylphosphatideylethanolamin und N-Acylethanolamin sowie der Hormone Leptin und Ghrelin bei gesunden jungen Frauen und jugendlichen Patientinnen mit Anorexia nervosa vor und nach einer Standardmahlzeit. Freiburg: Dissertation
Strother, E., Lemberg, R., Stanford, S. C. & Turberville, D. (2012) Eating Disorders in Men: Underdiagnosed, Undertreated, and Misunderstood. Eating Disorders, 20(5), 346-355 (via)