Gender sickness

Having wrestled with the flu for a few days, I couldn't help but notice something. Men and women just handle sickness differently.

This isn't some 1980s Seinfeld rant about how men whine. But there does seem to be a gap between how men and women process through sickness in the United States.

When the boys on my playground asked me to come out and I told them I was down, they unanimously responded with a "take care of yourself."

When the girls heard I was taken to the bed, they responded with questions about what drugs I was taking and what the doctor had said about my suffering.

Now I'm one of those who think there are some illnesses that we just go through. I'd prefer to save antibiotics for when my arm is rotting off rather than when my lungs rattle a little. I don't even really understand putting down the Tylenol for a minor fever. All it does it supress the symptom, and I think of the uncomfortable fever as how my defenses jump up. As for going to the doctor for a bit of a virus he or she can't do anything about, well, how long do you sit needlessly in the reception room?

So when I responded to the ladies I was just riding it out, the ladies tsk-tsked me. I was being a martyr. Or just foolish.

I suspect I could find a psychologist to tell me this has something to do with nurturing instincts or something. Probably even one who relates it back to sex.