Pain

It is widely believed that men have lower pain thresholds than women. Women experience childbirth so it seems reasonable that they would have higher pain thresholds. Surprisingly, no one had scientifically tested this assumption until recently. Scientists actually discovered that men tend to average significantly higher pain thresholds. This means that a man would experience less pain, on average, than a woman would in a comparable situation. Very recent research has found that men may experience more pain than women after major surgery but that the reverse is true after minor surgery. Scientists found that pregnant women do tend to have very high pain thresholds although this is lost soon after birth. Male animals injected with female sex hormones experienced a reduction in pain tolerance.

Differing gender experiences of pain have implications for pain management so it is important that the medical profession recognise that women often experience more pain than men and apply this knowledge appropriately.

See Also

• Casual Misandry