From: ddw2@quads.uchicago.edu (der Reaper-Dave Wang)
Subject: Re: Mysogynist Bullshit
Summary: Women's Health Problems.Cardiovascular 
Keywords: health, feminism
Reply-To: ddw2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 00:24:06 GMT

In regards to the article written by the above...  An in particular to the
	cardiovascular problems faced by women.  It is interesting to note
	that cardiovascular diseases such as "mitral-valve prolapse" occur
	in various stages and some are sex-dependant.

The woman whose mother had a mitral-valve problem could have existed as a
	congenital condition (mitral-valve prolapse which is a sex-linked
	trait linked to females) and the severity of it could have been such
	that no amount of surgery could have solved the problem.  Additionally
	with the male that she refers to as "having found his problem simply
	by hearing a 'click' in his heart at a routine doctor's visit" may
	not have had a condition similar to mitral-valve prolapse.  It could
	have been one of several disease states in which the tendons holding
	the mitral valve were too weak, that one of the leaflets of the valve
	was not fully closed, etc.  Things that could be corrected by surgery.

Additionally, the number of women who are cited as having "heart-problems" I
	assume means the frequency of women noticing cardiovascular difficulty.
	The fact that oftentimes the physical state of the female undergoing
	heart/cardiovascular surgery is more degenerate than that of the male
	is simply a confounding factor as I will explain:

	Testosterone is seen to increase the frequency and degree of arterial
	venous clogging in all humans (male and female).  In fact, to the
	degree that women (as a whole) do not exhibit any significant cardio-
	vascular disease conditions until after menopause (after which their
	progesterone/estrogen levels drop and the blood testosterone level
	becomes more significant).
	The fact that the physical condition of women undergoing cardiovas-
	cular surgery is worse than that of males is a direct result of this...
	Women are simply older before they show any signs of cardiovascular
	clogging in the veins and arteries.

Okay?  How's that?  I do agree that women should get equal medical care as
	compared to that of men.  In fact, I am a MALE FEMINIST... even the
	president of an organization at the University of Chicago called
	UofC Students for Women's Issues.

However, as some of the readers of this article and the preceeding ones might
	want to note, the frequency of diseases is far greater in women than
	in men especially regarding STDs and hormonal imbalances.  Both of
	these make sense.

As such, women do need special medical attention in the realms of ovarian
	and cervical cancer (almost absent now thanks to Pap-Smears) as well
	as in breast-cancer research.

Luckily (for everyone involved) the drug Taxol has been approved for use by
	the FDA.  Taxol is manufactured by Bristol-Meyers Squibb and is taken
	from yew-trees.  It is effective in treating 30% of the 20% of untreat
	able ovarian cancer patients... quite a large number if you consider
	the fatalities that could be avoided in approximately 20,000 people
	per year who are diagnosed as having ovarian cancer.

Okay... well it's 'ciao' for me.
Good luck and understand more about what women are going through before you
	comment on how they want to "hog the medical care"...

Peace be with you.


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