Amy Schumer perfectly nails how society brushes off women’s menstrual pain

In another post-surgery video, Amy Schumer is keeping it real with a reminder for women everywhere: you’re not a “drama queen” because you’re in pain. And periods shouldn’t be painful to the point of preventing you from functioning.

Earlier this week, Schumer shared an update about her health after undergoing surgery to remove her appendix and her uterus due to severe endometriosis. For years, she’s used her platform to encourage women to advocate for their bodies and their health because she knows firsthand what it’s like to have her own pain dismissed.

She was motivated to share her latest update after receiving the test results from the tissue they removed from her body.

“I just wanted to say that what I learned today is that your periods shouldn’t be painful,” she begins the 10-minute video. “Not everyone’s are. From the time I got my first period, I was knocked over, vomiting from the pain.”

She notes that as women, we’re constantly told to downplay our own pain because a lot of the time, society dismisses it entirely. She says when that happens, it’s because women are painted as “weak.” But that’s the furthest thing from the truth.

“Culturally, I just feel like I grew up believing that too. I assumed I was being a drama queen,” she admits.

She’s really shedding light on the medical disparities between men and women—and she’s not wrong about any of it.

Research shows women in pain are much more likely than men to receive prescriptions for sedatives, rather than pain medication. One study even showed women who received coronary bypass surgery were only half as likely to be prescribed painkillers compared to men who had undergone the same procedure. Another study shows that women also wait an average of 65 minutes before receiving pain medication for acute abdominal pain in the ER in the U.S., while men wait only 49 minutes.

A 2000 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that gender biases in the medical system can also have fatal consequences: women are seven times more likely than men to be misdiagnosed and discharged in the middle of a heart attack, simply because women present different symptoms than men. And, unfortunately, most disease diagnoses are based on male physiology—even now.

Schumer says her experience with endometriosis pain for most of her life has inspired her to continue to use her platform to shout about it from the rooftops in order to inspire and help other women.

“Let me just tell you, my pain is real,” she says. “Your pain is real. We have to advocate for ourselves, we have to speak up. And, you know what? I’m worried this video is annoying, but I don’t care, because I hope that it helps one woman go and find out why she’s in so much pain.”