In this YouTube short, Dr. Aaron Hartman explains that before 1993 women of childbearing age were systematically excluded from phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials, meaning that most drugs were tested only on men. He argues that women’s complex hormonal cycles, body composition, and metabolism differ markedly from men’s, leading to a 50‑75 % higher rate of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in women. He illustrates how differences in water‑ vs. fat‑solubility of medications affect distribution in male versus female bodies, yet these factors were never studied. Hartman labels this oversight a blind spot and a form of medical gaslighting, calling for a “medical feminist” approach that acknowledges sex‑based physiology. He invites female viewers to share personal experiences of being dismissed, misdiagnosed, or gaslit, to build a collective compendium that can drive awareness and change.
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Before 1993, women of childbearing age were actually excluded from phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials, meaning that most, if not all, medications that later came to be marketed ignored over half of our population. Why would they do that? Women's physiology is complicated. In order to bring life into this world, you have to have an amazingly complicated hormonal system and regulation system. And just looking at men's testosterone level over decades, kind of goes slow down over decades. Women, it literally changes from the first cycle of your first part of your phase, the second part of your cycle. It gets really complicated. And what our healthcare system did is not take a deep dive and become women health hormone experts, women immune system or fascial experts. They said, let's just ignore and push women out of phase 1, phase 2 clinical trials, research men, and then apply it to everybody. How's that turned out for us? Not that great. Women are 50 to 75% more likely to experience adverse drug reactions than men because of difference in their metabolism, hormones, and body composition that weren't studied. One small example we all know about, women overall have more body fat on them than men. Just women are made differently. Men have more muscle mass. Well, that changes your water compartment and some medications and your fat compartment. Some medications are water soluble, Some are fat-soluble. Some concentrate in muscle tissues more. Some concentrate in fat tissues more. What does that mean? They would have radically different effects on men versus women. Has that been studied? No. And that's something we learn in basic science. I learned that in medical school actually, that there's a difference between the physiology in men and women. Then you get to evidence-based medicine, right? Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. And what do they do? They ignore the difference. What's been the result? Women are 50 to 75% more likely to experience adverse drug reactions than men because of the differences in metabolism. This is one of the many examples of blind spots, medical gaslighting, and how literally we all need to become medical feminists. We need to realize that women are more susceptible to certain things based on their physiology. Women are more overlooked because of their physiology, and we need to change all that. I've been talking about this a lot for the last couple months, and hopefully by now it's kind of sinking in a little bit. But this is just one of the many examples at basic bench research how we overlooked women and their physiology. So, if as a female you've had a time when you were overlooked, You were gaslit, you were misdiagnosed or just total it was all in your head, nothing wrong with you. I'd love to hear that example below just so I can put it in my compendium, in my library, in my brain, but also so we can share with each other and learn from each other because how we actually will stop this is as a community, as a country educating people about these instances. So, share below. I'd love to hear from you.
