Re: CFIDS as a lesson, American disease, women's disease

[Guest guest]

,

Not to belabor the point here, but I do agree with that attributing

CFIDS to American civilization is just completely unfounded. As the editor

of a forthcoming CFIDS anthology, I have done a lot of research and

speculation as to why this mythology exists. I have found online CFIDS web

sites in Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Sweden,

South Africa, Denmark, Argentina, Japan, and Israel - every continent but

Antarctica. There was a recent article in the CFIDS Chronicle by someone

whose wife contracted CFIDS in Ethiopia. We can no longer pretend that this

is just an American disease.

The equation of disease and behavior emerged with the AIDS epidemic. It was

a way of justifying medical neglect through cultural homophobia and bigotry.

AIDS was initially shunned because of its early misnomer, Gay Related Immune

Deficiency. And remember - Americans used to think AIDS, as well, was a

Westernized disease. Now, it is the number on killer in Africa, where

Americans once pretended it didn't exist. CFIDS, also, probably exists in

many places but people simply are not getting proper medical care and

diagnosis. I think we forget sometimes that even though American CFIDS care

is still lacking in so many ways, many of us are priviledged to have access

to state-of-the-art medical equipment.

Also, as to the point of women with children being overworked, etc. I

completely agree that women are often forced to take on way, way too much,

and that parenting is often a second job for many mothers (and even a third

job for some people fighting to get out of poverty). But I also want to

point out that anecdotal evidence suggests that lesbians are even more likely

to contract CFIDS, just as they are at higher risk for breast cancer. Many

of these women are childless. And certainly, women are more likely to be

predisposed to other diseases, particularly autoimmune diseases. So again, I

think the correlation between the " overworked woman " and CFIDS is just a

medical stereotype. Also, a way to perpetrate medical misogyny. Certainly,

heart attacks are more common amongst Type A personality men, too, but the

medical establishment doesn't use this as a rationale for denying care. With

CFIDS, I believe, the overworked woman stereotype has a hidden and very old

sexist implication that women should have stayed at home to begin with.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Peggy