The Agony of She
THE AGONY OF SHE FOR SOLO DOUBLE BASS CÆRWEN MARTIN 2019 DURATION 10’00"
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Composer: caerwen martin
Year: 2019
ISMN: 49 9790720279497 979-0-720279-49-7
Size: A4
Instrument: double bass
Duration: 10'00"
THE AGONY OF SHE FOR SOLO DOUBLE BASS CÆRWEN MARTIN 2019 DURATION 10:00
Commissioned by Miranda Hill. Premiere Performance by Miranda Hill at Hanson Dyer Hall, Ian Potter Centre Southbank, November 25th, 2019.
PROGRAMME NOTES
This is a visceral and ugly work that harshly exposes gender discrimination in pain recognition affecting women and those assigned female at birth in emergency diagnostic practices in Australia. Many female specific illnesses are screened for diagnostic investigation solely through pain recognition. This topical examination often involves touching or pressing on the abdomen, nothing more. If an examining doctor considers the patient not to be in sufficient pain to warrant further investigation, the patient is typically discharged from care and sent home without referral or offer of follow-up care. This is a highly subjective assessment that does not properly account for the variables in pain tolerance, unique anatomy, trauma, co-morbidities, social context, culture, and pragmatic stoicism, and it is failing as a method of medical assessment.