Putting invisible illness in quotes is kind of ableist and gross. Just because you don't like this woman doesn't mean you should deny the fact that there are illnesses that really affect quality of life and cause suffering that do not make one look sick at all.

She said ‘thyroid disorders’ - not ‘some’ or ‘a host of’. And even then it’s a sloppy use of words, because thyroid disorders are real, and awful. That’s why I got angry. Also, because a lot of the complaints (weight gain or loss, hair loss, extreme fatigue, depression, menstrual problems, insomnia) are easily…

Even narcissistic assholes who are looking for sympathy can still have a very real disease. Your basic personality and way of dealing with life doesn’t necessarily change. I know someone with cancer. He’s still an abusive asshole.

All I can say regarding the doctor shopping is that I kind of get where she is coming from. After my initial diagnosis, I started feeling odd again.

I have Hashimotos and this shit is real. I lost my body hair two years ago, it’s just starting to come back.

Lol ok true....I think the closet of medicines is whacky and intense haha I see what you mean. I guess my instinct is to defend her because she gets so much shit from the ladies on the show and deep down I don't think she's faking it. She just has such a wonderful life to show up for, I can't imagine her purposefully…

Plus, Yolanda says stuff that really undermine her credibility. Like her swollen brain comment and her Lyme origin story. Then there’s the whole feel that she uses her disease to manipulate people. She is not a trustworthy narrator.

Thyroid disorders (Graves disease, Hashimoto’s, to name two) are very real, and easy to detect (a simple blood test), so don’t know why that’s being lumped in with ‘diseases and disorders that many claim they suffer from, yet are unrecognized by evidence-based medicine’. Makes me question the rest of the article…

Why is she a terrible spokesperson for chronic Lyme? I watch real housewives and I not only appreciate her experience with Lyme but I feel sick when the women attack her for faking it and I think she's done well in the face of all that harassment.

I’m currently suffering from Lyme. I suppose you could call it chronic since the initial round of treatment didn’t take care of it.

Yup, pretty much this. If women don't want to be harassed, we should just stop having women's bodies! Anything less is basically consent.

dude, where else are they going to get the material for their sad-ass memoir about manliness and alcohol and privilege?

In fact, the more of an abrasive asshole he is, the more he treats people with contempt and insults and all that shit... the more of a genius he is, the less people even question his brilliance. I mean, if he wasn’t a genius, he wouldn’t dare, right? (He would.)

Because, the idea that the literary world is so narrow that a man like that holds the key? These men do not have as much power as we think they do. When you believe that they have power over you, you are reinforcing whatever power they do have. There’s no one gatekeeper. The gates are open.”

It was still this way in STEM in the 90's/early aughts. I didn’t have any problems with harrassment or worse, but there was a lot of pressure to be the ‘cool girl’ and to throw anyone who refused to play the game under the bus.

Totally. I was such a hussy in my hoodie and jeans. Asking for it. If I would just stand up for myself and ask nicely (because ladies always have to be nice), he’ll totally apologize. And he’ll still write me a kickass recommendation for graduate school—not because of my tits, but on my own merit. What’s more, if I…

Yup. Male MFA profs all prey on the young lovelies in their classes. What always seemed curious to me how oblivious they were to the cliche. Guess it doesn’t matter if you’re bedding twenty year olds in your forties and fifties. One woman in my graduating class complained and was mercilessly harassed...lawyers even! I…

The mounting male outrage in the grays is good for a laugh, at least.

Zero shock here. Whether it’s science, medicine, politics, literature, visual art, music, fashion, knitting, botany—men have historically used their alleged talent and “genius” as an excuse or cover for horrible behavior, from general assholery and misogyny to rape. I’m glad that the douchebags and criminals who also…

Me too. Same. As a young woman I thought of myself as “cool,” because I could “hang” with the dudes. I didn’t think of sex in a needy emotional way! So I fucked all of them and let them treat me like shit, while talking to me about their One True Loves (invariably someone not “cool” who didn’t “hang,” who invariably…