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It’s no secret that I’m not exactly a fan of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. In fact, I find her pretty much repugnant … and, quite frankly, at least a little bit dangerous.
That being said, I deplore inequity in any way, shape, or form, and I find recent criticism of Bachmann, who suffers from migraines, to be … well, pretty much repugnant.
Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel recently weighed in on the left wing’s implication that Bachmann is unfit for a possible presidency because of her headaches … and I have to say that I agree with him.
Along comes Michele Bachmann, a migraine sufferer, one of millions (approximately 28 million in the U.S.). The left wing media …
… is questioning her ability to govern, despite the fact that she is already a responsible congresswoman and attorney.
Yes, she appears to suffer from migraines that are occasionally intractable, but most migraines are treatable and even preventable these days. Medications, careful dieting, and most recently Botox injections have altered the terrain.
There are many reasons that I find Michele Bachmann unfit to govern, and none of them have to do with her migraines.
I myself have struggled with migraines for much of my life, and they are painful, uncomfortable, and, yes, even debilitating. That being said, they are also increasingly treatable as victims of the migraine express train learn to avoid trigger foods such as red wine and chocolate and to utilize the increasing supplements and medications—both preventative and abortive, which stop a headache already in progress—available.
Siegel makes another point that is disturbing to me as a woman, a feminist, and a migraine sufferer.
Three to four times more migraine sufferers are women. Consider that these migraines are frequently hormonally triggered especially in pre-menopausal are peri-menopausal women like the congresswoman. I believe that all the attention being lavished on this issue by non-physicians has much more to do with the fact that she is a woman than any risk to function from the migraines per se.
There is also a stereotype at work here; that women are the only ones afflicted.
And, you know, he’s right.
How many of us have heard jokes about, “Not tonight, dear, I have a headache”? The stereotype of women sitting in dark rooms with cool cloths draped over their foreheads is apparently still alive today, and it’s grossly inaccurate … especially considering that an increasingly large number of men and children are being diagnosed as migrainiacs.
With minimal exceptions, I teach through my migraines, and I don’t think that Michele Bachmann has an extensive history of saying, “Not today, Mr. Speaker, I have a headache.”
While Americans know about John McCain’s history of melanoma (and of course his, uh, advanced age), Bill Clinton’s obesity and consequences such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and even Barack Obama’s history of tobacco use (among other things), these weren’t taken as serious threats to the Presidency at this early stage of the game.
The thought of Michele Bachmann in the Oval Office makes my blood run cold, but I find the notion of her being kept out of the running because she gets migraines even more odious, particularly when you put the “migraines are a woman’s excuse to take a break when the going gets tough” stereotype into the equation.
What do you think?