This isn’t anecdotal. A UK Parliament Women and Equalities Committee report states: “Women told us they have had painful gynaecological issues ignored, misdiagnosed and mistreated,” adding that many are told symptoms such as heavy or painful bleeding are simply “normal”. The scale of delay is stark: nearly half of women with endometriosis visited their GP ten or more times before diagnosis.
In late 2024, MPs were told this pattern amounted to “medical misogyny”, condemning women to years of unnecessary pain. Evidence presented included testimony from public figures and patients alike, detailing how routine dismissal affects work, fertility, relationships and mental health.
Importantly, this conversation hasn’t faded. In 2025, the Nuffield Trust warned that sexism and stigma still shape women’s healthcare experiences in England, noting that conditions affecting women are more likely to be normalised, under-researched and deprioritised.
This is why the argument keeps returning. Not because women enjoy telling the same story — but because the system keeps producing it.
When you experience dismissal often enough, you learn the choreography. You soften your language. You hesitate before booking another appointment. You wonder whether pushing again will make you seem difficult, anxious, or time-wasting.
Or you do what many women now do: you research obsessively. You track symptoms. You adjust diet, sleep, stress. You arrive at a conclusion yourself — not because you distrust medicine, but because the system hasn’t kept pace with your body.
That shift matters. Because when reassurance becomes the default response to complexity, it stops being neutral. It delays diagnosis. It redistributes labour. It quietly teaches women that persistence is embarrassing and uncertainty is personal failure.
The new version of medical gaslighting doesn’t shout.
It doesn’t argue.
It doesn’t slam doors.
It smiles. It reassures. It moves on.
And the reason this conversation keeps resurfacing — now, again — is because women are finally trusting the pattern they’ve been living with all along.
