So, I want to play a good-faith devil's advocate here, because I think there's some science that's getting misrepresented by awful wording in this tweet.
"... and researchers are not sure why" absolutely reads like they're completely shrugging and have absolutely no idea, but in the world of academia, everything has got to be stress-tested. Not just to question our beliefs, but to explore any number of contributing reasons to things. We absolutely have so much evidence through lived experience that this society puts systematic pressures on both men and women that traumatize them in different ways. We're all taught and reinforced the idea that women's bodies aren't theirs, in particular. Researchers aren't dumb. But we can't stop at that, because that doesn't tell us the whole story. In other to understand how to reshape society, we need to understand more and question more how we got here and what else there is to know. This doesn't mean "not listening to women", this means "understanding EVERY step of the process". That includes biology.
Here's the link to the article in question: https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/01/18/the-connection-between-ptsd-and-the-menopausal-transition/
And here's the first paragraph:
"Even though there is an abundance of literature on PTSD, we lack a thorough understanding of the biological causes that explain why it is more than twice as prevalent in women than men. Women are also more likely to experience chronic PTSD for more than a year. Despite this, women have often been excluded from studies; variable hormonal cycles have been cited as a factor, but in recent years, new findings have shed light on how estrogen and hormonal cycles can influence PTSD.(1)"
While I'm unfamiliar with the greater literature of this field, what I infer is this: C-PTSD is a psychological effect of trauma. It's the job of research to figure out things like "how often is this a result of trauma?" "what can this look like?" "how does it vary?" "if not everyone seems to get it after trauma, why?" After asking questions like these, the statement "PTSD is twice as prevalent in women as in men and researchers are not sure why" could instead read as "women are psychologically and/or biologically affected by trauma differently than men and we don't think we know everything about it"
I don't know if I'm right. I'm very informed on the field. But something tells me that academic meanings are lost in translation.
Also, the end of that first paragraph? That implies that this research will actually help us understand how to include more experiences in research by controlling for factors we couldn't guarantee accurate results for before. This research may help us include more women.
Don't let me determine your understanding! My perspective is limited and I may be wrong about a lot of things. I'm trying to encourage you not to take the wordings of things at face value. Please be curious about the things people tell you that sound ridiculous, because they may be speaking from a completely different way of using language, and trying to tell you something thats insightful after all.
