The experience of pain for women is complex, complicated, and desperately underacknowledged. Endometriosis is just one example of the agony being endured. It affects one in 10 women but, astonishingly, takes an average of seven and a half years to be diagnosed* due to the perceived notion that severe period pain is ‘normal.’ Enduring this pain has a profound impact on every area of sufferers lives with some people experiencing depression, loss of relationships and in some cases even considering suicide. This is also reflected in their work, with research finding that over 40% of those with endometriosis had given up or lost their job because of it.
 

Libresse has created The Pain Dictionary, using real descriptions of pain from people with endometriosis. The dictionary includes new words and definitions visualized by artists and creators, whose powerful illustrations bring life’s purposes, resulting in a new verbal and visual language for endometriosis pain. Contributors include illustrator Venus Libido, and textile artist Ellie Pearce, both of whom suffer from endometriosis.

The campaign will encourage a culture of sharing Pain Stories online: The Pain Dictionary is an ongoing collaborative project, where Libresse will continue to listen to women, to use their pain descriptions to build a comprehensive source of pain experiences, showing the variety and intensity of endometriosis pain.

To launch Pain Stories, Libresse has created the world’s first Pain Museum for people to explore the gender pain gap one story at a time. It will take people on a deep expressive dive into pain –– telling the Pain Stories that need to be told, exploring the taboos that fuel the silence around pain through artwork, and includes interviews with people living with endometriosis and medical experts. The Pain Museum is a true education into the experience of pain that brings women’s Pain Stories to life and addresses how we can create a language to confront it, to move towards a world where this suffering is not something shrugged off as “normal,” to be endured.

“Women have been putting up with excruciating pain for years. Due to outdated taboos, women’s pain is systematically overlooked, and they are too often dismissed, ignored, and misdiagnosed. By inviting women to share their Pain Stories, we hope to overcome the culture of silence that holds women back – in this case, from proper diagnosis and treatment. We know that 176 million women globally have endometriosis, and we need a language to help them articulate their experiences so they can get the help they need. We hope to help women tell their Pain Stories to raise awareness for endometriosis and other painful pelvic conditions through definitions, conversation, and exposure. We want this initiative to help those experiencing similar things yet are struggling to make their voice heard. Listening to how women feel is critical to driving change, and we know it’s so important to understand the problems before we can start solving them. By sharing our extensive research, we now hope to work closely with charities and health partners together and we will start to bring about societal change and make the world that bit easier for women globally,” explained Tanja Grubner, femcare global marketing & communications director at Essity.

Credits
Campaign: #PainStories
Advertising Agency: AMV BBDO, UK
CCO: Alex Grieve
ECDs: Nadja Lossgott, Nicholas Hulley
Creative Directors: Toby Allen, Jim Hilson, Nadja Lossgott, Nicholas Hulley
Copywriter & Art Director: Augustine Cerf, Lauren Peters
Designer: Mario Kertstra, Jack Donovan
Agency Planner: Margaux Revol, Beatrice Farmelo, Bridget Angear
Agency Account Team: Sarah Douglas, Sarah Hore-Lacy, Katie Gorrod
Agency Creative Producer: Rosie Stipic
Business Affairs: Michelle Holmes
PR Agency: Ketchum
Practice Director: Amber Organ
Senior Account Manager: Victoria Bond
Research Company: The Outsiders
Researchers: Steven Lacey, Zoë McQuillin