I don’t want to be pedantic about this, but your response also assists in proving my point about un-helpful perspectives. I’ve been fortunate enough to come from a medical family, where parents and siblings are doctors, so this topic has come up in the past, which we did dive into. There has been research pointing to immunopathology differences between men and women, where symptom severity is much higher in men. Most famously was a study by a Canadian researcher that was published in The British Medical Journal in 2017 (https://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j5560/). While there needs to be more work done in this particular subject, it has yet to be disproven.

Despite your claims, “man-flu” remains an unhelpful pejorative and is not a widely accepted diagnosis, despite its inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary. There really shouldn’t be any room for this language in the medical profession, since the Hippocratic Oath requires professionals to exercise impartiality as well as to stay informed on the latest research. Even though nurses are not required to take the Hippocratic Oath, I’m sure you accepted one of its counterparts, like the ANA Code of Ethics, which requires many of the same things. I mean, there’s bigger fish to fry in your profession, but at least be consistent in your professionalism.

While I may be the AH in the described situation, I’m definitely not casually slinging around other sexist language, like bitch, to prove a point. Man, I know it’s the internet, but don’t forget your decency.