Public Perception and Hyperhidrosis: Oh, the Irony!
By · on April 23, 2010We all roll our eyes from time to time when the phrase “politically correct” comes up. Remember the good old days, we whisper, when you could tell a good joke without Offending People? I am just as guilty at times as everyone, although I would like to believe I am sensitive to the feelings of others. My sensitivity comes from knowing what it feels like to pretend to laugh at some offensive joke or comment about sweating, while feeling inside like the butt of that joke.
Somehow over the years, we as a species have come to see sweating as shameful and disgusting. In our society, there are only very specific circumstances in which this natural bodily function can be deemed acceptable: when exercising, in extremely hot and/or humid conditions, or when ill. Even if you are nervous, we learn at a young age, you are expected to hide it.
As a result of this unspoken rule that is taught and reinforced countless times in childhood, public perception of those who sweat visibly is negative in every way:
- People whose hands are sweaty must be nervous. People who are nervous are shifty and not to be trusted. People who are nervous are weak and not self-assured; they have no self-respect.
- Somehow, the mental image of a “sweaty guy” is of someone who is overweight. People with Hyperhidrosis come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors, as we know.
- Sweating is unclean, so it only follows that people who sweat do not observe proper hygeine.
- Yup, we’re greedy, too. I recently saw this sentence: “…he couldn’t wait to get his sweaty hands on all that money…”
So here’s the kicker, folks! When we get up the nerve to tell a friend or peer about our Hyperhidrosis, what do we hear, almost without fail?? “Oh, so what. That’s okay. It’s no big deal.”
These perceptions are ingrained in all of us. Subconsciously, we judge our own sweating as society does. So, IT IS A BIG DEAL!
The only one way to change this unfair perception is to make it Politically Incorrect. We must come out of the shadows and raise awareness that Hyperhidrosis is real and that we, to quote my friend Anne, are “normal people who happen to sweat”.
‘Nuff said!
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