Historical Tinne Claes know that in 1921 the disease was first described by a Canadian gynecologist John A. Sampson, but endometriosis has probably been around much longer. “There are already descriptions of the symptoms in ancient times. Back then pain in the uterus was labeled as hysteria, but historians now suspect that in many cases it was due to endometriosis. For a long time it was believed that it was a disease of career women who died too late. children started and that endometriosis was the result of “using your womb too late”. There were also few female doctors, and women’s pain complaints were often not taken seriously.”
“So there was too little research into endometriosis,” says Tinne, “because it is a women’s problem”. Other women’s diseases that are under-researched are, for example, vaginismus and migraine. “The female body is often portrayed as mysterious and 70% of unexplained complaints occur in women. This is not because women’s bodies are more complex or mysterious, but because women’s bodies have been less explored over the centuries.”
