If Men Had Hyperemesis Gravidarum, We Would Never Have Called It "Morning Sickness"
By The HG Collective
There's a specific kind of sexism society still feels very comfortable with: the kind that disguises female suffering as exaggeration.
Hyperemesis Gravidarum sits right in the middle of it.
Because if HG affected men, we would never have called it "morning sickness" in the first place.
We would call it what it actually is: a serious pregnancy condition that can leave women unable to eat, drink, stand, work, parent, function, or survive without medical intervention.
Instead, generations of women have been handed crackers, minimised by healthcare systems, dismissed at work, and told this level of suffering is simply part of becoming a mother.
Research now links HG to significant physical and psychological trauma, including anxiety, depression and PTSD. Women repeatedly describe not only the illness itself — but the devastation of not being believed. [1]
And that phrase — "not being believed" — appears again and again in HG advocacy worldwide.
Not dramatic. Not emotional. Not weak. Not failing at pregnancy.
Just… disbelieved.
The irony is staggering.
We live in a world obsessed with optimising women's performance: leaders, founders, executives, caregivers, mothers and partners.
But when women describe a condition so severe it can lead to dehydration, malnutrition, hospitalisation, suicidal ideation and pregnancy termination, many are still met with:
"Have you tried ginger?"
HG affects up to 3% of pregnancies and remains one of the leading causes of hospital admission in early pregnancy. Yet campaigners and researchers continue to describe it as under-recognised, underfunded and systemically misunderstood.
This year's international awareness theme is simple:
Believe us. [2]
Honestly, the fact women still have to ask for that in 2026 should make all of us uncomfortable.
Because the issue isn't only HG. It's what HG exposes.
Who gets listened to. Who gets dismissed. Whose pain gets normalised. And how easily society reframes female suffering as something women should quietly endure.
International Hyperemesis Gravidarum Awareness Day should not just raise awareness of a condition. It should force a conversation about why it's taking so long for people to take it seriously in the first place.
Sources
[1] Mitchell-Jones, N., Lawson, K., Bobdiwala, S., Farren, J.A., Tobias, A., Bourne, T. and Bottomley, C. (2020). Association between hyperemesis gravidarum and psychological symptoms, psychosocial outcomes and infant bonding: a two-point prospective case–control multicentre survey study in an inner city setting. BMJ Open, 10(10). Available at: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e039715
[2] HER Foundation (2026). HG Awareness Day 2026 Campaign. Available at: https://www.hyperemesis.org/our-foundation/media-center/hgam2026