Lets consider how we end up with some people in 2016 only now recognizing that CFS is more prevalent in women for organic disease reasons:
What prevented this knowledge previously? I will argue it is rampant sexism, and before someone accuses me of being a rabid feminist, I'm not. This is not an anti male post, it's a reflection on the history of psychiatry that blames women for unexplained symptoms and the unfortunate truth is, men did this to not only women, but all of us (men have CFS too). This 'mistake' of gender differences in biology being confused for proof psychiatry is 'right', goes back hundred's of years. Hundreds of years ago, doctors were rarely female. Times have changed, women's roles in society have become more equal, but time can betray humans future - our future.
My experience (others may differ) is sexism is still rife among psychiatrists, because they still blame this idea of 'weak minded women prone to hysteria'. Heart sink patients able to develop any malady humanely possible, more likely than men - so a Women's complaint. CFS is thus ripe for this accusation, because they observe less men have CFS than women - confirmation bias then convinces them, they're correct!
This grave error, arguably comes from reading 'history' of psychiatry, which makes presumptions on symptoms based on unproven hypotheses. Hence Women, get a bad reputation for practically anything 'unexplained', because they are ''emotional creatures prone to stupendous outbursts'' - writes a man, in 1841.
They then bring these presumptions of Women and transfer them into CFS with a modern medicine overlay. Instead of recognizing (the are qualified MD's after all) that autoimmune diseases are more prevalent in females, they think, ohh yes, this CFS idea must be a functional somatic syndrome and if we find it in a boy or male, the mother has probably 'enabled him'. (Women blamed again) because it's unlikely a non bullied at school male could develop CFS.
So you can't win either way, because they flood the media with their delusional ideas about CFS and the public are influenced and see ME CFS is a women's disease, because, weak minded rich white women feel tired a lot. So the patients are then seen in society, in some way, deserving of their own fate both by the general public and the wider medical professional who become infected with sexist ideology, that 'worried middle class women' worry themselves into CFS.
In addition, the sexism I have encountered is so bad, that I get my dad to deal with my health, either because they are just plain rude to my mother (believing she makes me ill as she 'believes' in ME CFS) or because they give me a more fair hearing when dealing with a man.
And the most worrying part of this? It's women doctors doing this as well. Women being prejudiced against other women (because they have CFS) or they have a child with CFS, because of what they read in psychological journals about the 'roots' of ME CFS.
By governments dictating psychiatry as the captain of good ship ME CFS,we are being governed and herded into medical oblivion, by unintentional traitors.
When biomedical researchers are permitted to be funded, we then find out, that it's autoimmunity that explains the gender differences, what real Scientists could have told you probably decades ago, had they been allowed to influence research rather than be stonewalled out of the plot, sorry, I mean plan of evidence based clinical management for ME CFS.