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Sexism in medicine? It’s not ‘all in her head’.

Sabir Ansary — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 10:37:34 +0000

Six years ago, Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a breast cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in Manhattan, held the hand of a patient who was several hours from death.

As Dr. Comen leaned in for a final farewell, she pressed her cheek against her patient’s damp face. “That’s when she said it,” Dr. recalled. Comen themselves.

“’I’m so sorry to sweat on you.’”

In her twenty years as a physician, Dr. Comen discovers that women apologize to her all the time: for sweating, for asking follow-up questions, for not discovering their own cancer sooner.

“Women apologize for being sick, seeking care or standing up for themselves,” she said during an interview in her office:I’m so sorry, but I’m in pain. I’m so sorry, this looks disgusting.’”

These experiences in the exam room are part of what Dr. Comen wrote, “It’s All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early medicine taught us about women’s bodies and why they matter today.” In it, she traces the roots of women’s tendency to apologize for their sick or unruly bodies to centuries of degradation by the medical establishment. It’s a legacy that continues to shape the lives of female patients, she argues.

Nowadays women are more likely are misdiagnosed than men and takes longer to be diagnosed heart disease and a little cancers; they could be less likely being offered pain medication; it’s more likely that their symptoms will be written off as anxiety – or, as the book’s title suggests, as something that’s just in their heads.

“The anxious woman, the hysterical woman, is a specter that looms and interweaves throughout medical history,” said Dr. Comen. “It’s a standard diagnosis.”

Collectively, she argues in the book, these injustices help explain why many women report feeling invisible, frustrated or ashamed in doctors’ offices. Shame may be the symptom, but Dr. Comen believes a deeply misogynistic medical system is the disease.

A history of exclusion

Dr. Comen, a mother of three in her mid-40s, is quick with a camera-ready smile, which makes her frequent breast cancer media appearances. She occasionally cries when she talks about her patients.

She once cried at her job at the medical school, and a male resident responded by telling her to “keep herself together.”

“I felt like I had to excuse my reaction,” she said, sitting at her desk. “And now I cry with patients all the time.”

Her approach is shaped by decades of experience, but also by what she learned about the place of the female body in medicine as a history of science major at Harvard.

“The sense that women’s bodies were not only different but also broken is evident not only in the way doctors spoke of female anatomy, but also in the medical vocabulary itself: the female external genitalia were called ‘pudenda’, a Latin word meaning ‘things to do’. ashamed of it,” she wrote.

In ‘All in Her Head’, Dr. Comen is an in-depth look at the ways she believes modern medicine has ignored women. For centuries, she writes, early medical authorities believed that women were merely “small Gentlemen” – although it has no external sexual organs and a similar mental capacity, governed by harmful humors and hormones.

For too long, doctors have “dismissed what could be legitimate physiological problems as irrelevant, as hormonal and therefore not important,” says Wendy Kline, a professor of the history of medicine at Purdue University.

And this was the case for white, affluent women, writes Dr. Comen in the book. If you were a woman of color, or poor, you were seen by medical authorities as having even less authority over your own body, and therefore less worthy of care and compassion.

“For Black women, when we enter a clinical setting, we need to think about race And gender discrimination,” said Keisha Ray, associate professor of humanities and bioethics at UTHealth Houston, who studies the effects of institutional racism on the health of Black people. “It’s often exaggerated, the lack of compassion and the lack of care you receive.”

Take heart disease, for example. At the end of the 19th century, Dr. William Osler, one of the founders of modern medicine, that women who presented with what we now know as symptoms of heart attacks or cardiac arrhythmias – including shortness of breath and palpitations – almost certainly suffering from ‘pseudo-angina’ or false angina, ‘a collection of symptoms caused by neurosis masquerading as a real disease’, writes Dr. Comen.

It is only in the past 25 years that cardiological studies have been included women in significant numbers. Nowadays, there are some heart attack symptoms that are more common in women, such as: jaw and back painare still described as “atypicalSimply because doctors don’t see them as often in men and are less likely to be taken seriously, even though 44 percent of women will. develop heart disease one in five women will die from it at some point in their lives.

“We’ve used the male model for diagnosis, for treatment, as the gold standard,” says Dr. Jennifer Mieres, a cardiologist at Northwell Health and co-author of the book “Heart Smarter for Women.” This has “led to continued misrepresentation, misdiagnosis and underrecognition of heart attacks in women.”

How to advocate for yourself

In each chapter of ‘All in Her Head’ Dr. interviews. Come doctors working to improve the system, starting with taking the complaints of female patients seriously – not just writing down physical symptoms, from chest pain to fatigue to gastrointestinal complaints, to anxiety until, for example, all other causes have been excluded.

Dr. Comen also shares practical tools to better collaborate with an imperfect system.

First, she writes, it is essential that all patients trust their knowledge of their own bodies and advocate for themselves. Before an appointment, ask yourself: What really concerns you about your body?

“Not what you think you need to worry about,” writes Dr. Comen. “Not what you think your doctor will be able to address most comfortably and easily.”

Then if you are concerned about your health or if you are concerned about your health not are heard, enlist a friend or family member to accompany you to appointments. This person can serve as an advocate and as an extra pair of eyes and ears.

Finally, if you don’t like your doctor, find a new one. This is easier said than done, she acknowledged, but a trusting and respectful relationship with your healthcare provider is every patient’s right.

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Glamour, travel, sexism: when flight attendants fought back

Sabir Ansary — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 10:55:48 +0000

In 1958, when Mary Pat Laffey Inman became a flight attendant – as they were then called – for Northwest Airlines, she was twenty years old and the clock was already ticking. At the age of 32, she would be forced to retire. That is, if she did not marry, became pregnant or even became overweight for that: these were all reasons for ending the marriage. It was the golden age of aviation for everyone, except perhaps the women who served meals to the smartly dressed passengers during the flight.

Six years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and female flight attendants began joining forces against sexism.

In 1970, Ms. Laffey Inman, a labor leader and Northwest's first female purser — the head attendant on a flight — led a class action lawsuit, Laffey v. Northwest Airlines Inc., which resulted in the airline paying more than $30 million in damages and back wages in 1985. It also set the precedent for non-discriminatory hiring of flight attendants across the industry. But even then, not everything changed: flight attendants at some airlines were still subject to “weighings” until the 1990s. (Northwest merged with Delta Air Lines in 2008.)

Now, decades after the landmark decision, Ms. Laffey Inman, 86, is one of several former flight attendants featured in “Fly with me,” An “American experiencedocumentary chronicling how women fought to overcome discrimination in the airline industry. The film premieres on PBS on February 20. The New York Times spoke with Ms. Laffey Inman about how she made history. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What inspired your career in the aviation sector?

I worked at Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh. I always wanted to travel, ever since I was a child. As a flight attendant I was able to travel – all expenses paid. I loved it. Other flight attendants and I laugh about how lucky we were to be in the industry at the time. We would bid on three-day stopovers in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo. A limousine is ready to pick you up and take you to the hotel.

What did the training entail at the time?

Flight attendants had a six-week session where we learned about the airline and received emergency and safety training. We learned the commands to use in an emergency. And we had grooming classes – women came and taught us how to apply our makeup and paint our fingernails.

Beyond keeping up appearances, how was sexism evident in the industry?

When I started, senior flight attendants talked about younger men being hired to take charge of the plane and crew, bypassing flight attendants who had been flying for a while. They discussed this in whispers, or sometimes not whispering. It was always a point of contention. Men were elected to positions that controlled the union, and they conducted the negotiations. Flight attendants couldn't really consider the job as a career because we had to quit when we got married or when we were 32. That was always in the back of your mind.

How did you become the first female Purser?

In 1968, Northwest hired four men off the street as pursers. I called the director of labor relations and said, “You have to place this bid!” When they did that, a lot of women were intimidated, but I applied and got the job.

How did the duties of flight attendants differ in the 1960s?

We had to work with military air contracts. In times of emergency, the US military has the right to fly aircraft that can be used on a military basis. We flew to Vietnam quite often during the Tet Offensive in 1968. I was a purist, but I was new and had no seniority, so I was assigned to those flights. We would take 165 soldiers to Okinawa, then take them to Vietnam and hopefully bring 165 back. We got in and out of Vietnam as quickly as possible because there were rockets going back and forth.

Taking over a huge company is no easy feat, especially as young women in the 1960s.

We didn't have a legal leg to stand on until the Civil Rights Act, which mandated discrimination based on sex. That was our renaissance.

What role did you play?

In 1967, I became head of the Northwest union and negotiated the airline's first nondiscriminatory contract. We were able to prove that female flight attendants had the same skills and responsibilities. Then we brought back the flight attendants who had been fired because they were over 32, or because they were overweight or because they were married.

How did you end up with a class action lawsuit?

In 1969 negotiations for the next contract began. The negotiating committee was dominated by men. I expected changes, but Northwest refused to include language that would treat female wallets the same as male wallets. I spoke to an employment lawyer who said we had a case. Ultimately, 70 percent of the union signed. The airline dragged it out for 15 years – took it to the Supreme Court twice, but the case was sent back to the Federal District Court of Appeals, where Ruthie Bader Ginsburg was the judge who wrote the opinion in our favor.

When you filed the lawsuit, did you have any idea of the impact you would have on the industry – and on history?

No, I was just looking for equality in pay. I wasn't thinking 40 or 50 years ahead. I just hoped that every step up the judicial ladder would go our way.

As for flying today, with the many reports of bad passenger behavior What do you think can be done about flights and crew stress to make flying better?

I would like to see someone pass a law to widen the seats. That's one of the reasons there is so much tension.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter for expert tips on smarter travel and inspiration for your next holiday. Are you dreaming of a future getaway or are you just traveling in an armchair? Check out our 52 places to go in 2024.

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Professor Andrew Timming thought he made a good point about sexism when he tweeted a cheeky emoji message about Andrew Tate and Greta Thunberg. Then he was fired

Albert Elence — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 05:15:04 +0000

An Australian academic claims he was fired from his high-paying job over a tweet response to eco-activist Greta Thunberg and controversial influencer Andrew Tate.

Professor Andrew Timming claims he was sacked by RMIT University just before Christmas this year after 12 months of ‘bullying’ since his original tweet in December 2022.

Prof. Timming, who specializes in Human Resource Management, has appealed to the Fair Work Commission, accusing the university of suppressing freedom of expression and having an inherent left-wing bias.

The tweet made by Professor Timming was in response to a brief, viral interaction on the social media platform between Tate and Thunberg.

Tate shared a photo of himself in front of his Bugatti, telling Thunberg he had 33 cars and asking for her email address so he could send her a detailed list of their “massive emissions.”

Thunberg gave the sarcastic response: ‘Yes, please enlighten me. Email me at smalld**kenergy@getalife.com’.

Professor Timming then intervened and pointed out what he said was a sexist double standard.

“Demeaning sexual jokes when directed at a man by a woman,” he wrote, followed by smiley and wink emojis.

“Degrading sexual jokes when directed from a man to a woman,” he then wrote, followed by the bomb and skull and crossbones emojis.

Professor Andrew Timming is challenging his dismissal from RMIT University at the Fair Work Commission

He claims that this single tweet was the cause of backlash among senior university staff

Professor Timming claims his tweet angered RMIT management and he was reprimanded and threatened with disciplinary action.

The backlash prompted him to file a complaint in May 2023 because the university’s academic freedom policy was not adhered to.

He claims this has led to ‘vicious bullying’.

Prof. Timming eventually took the dispute to the Fair Work Commission, after which the university placed him on extended leave for health reasons.

He then consulted a university-appointed independent physician, who cleared him to return to work.

Professor Timming’s tweet was a response to a message from climate activist Greta Thunberg

Thunberg had replied to this tweet from Andrew Tate and said to email her at smalld***energy@getalife.com

However, on his return, Professor Timming claims RMIT overloaded him with extra work and teaching duties, and the bullying continued.

He then challenged the additional duties under RMIT’s negotiating agreement with the Fair Work Commission.

This prompted the university to summon him three days before Christmas to tell him he had been fired for “misconduct” for his refusal to do the job.

Prof Timming, who describes himself as an ‘out-of-the-closet conservative’, has now launched a petition calling on RMIT Vice-Chancellor Professor Alec Cameron to reinstate him.

The academic received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in Great Britain, where he also worked.

He also held academic positions at the University of Manchester, the University of St Andrews and the University of Western Australia.

The original tweet exchange between Tate and Thunberg in December 2022 took place a week before Tate was arrested in Romania for alleged rape and human trafficking crimes.

That lawsuit is pending, but earlier this week an appeal by Tate to leave Romania for three days to visit his family in Britain was rejected.

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has been charged with criminal offenses in Romania

In a statement via the Free Speech Union Australia. Professor Timming claimed that universities do not respect freedom of expression and workplace rights, such as the ability to file a complaint.

“No professor or student should face adverse action for protected speech,” he said.

‘If scientists and students are afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals, there is really no point in a university.

“The purpose of higher education should be to encourage debate and disagreement.”

“We cannot sacrifice speech on the altar of civility. Academics have the right to be shocking and offensive.”

Daily Mail Australia has contacted RMIT for comment.

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Still living in the Mad Men age! From ignoring women’s safety to obsessing over leading male stars, advertising campaigners reveal the modern-day commercials guilty of ‘sneaky sexism’

Sabir Ansary — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 01:02:11 +0000

Women’s empowerment and representation have been buzzwords of late for brand campaigns – and yet one advertising organisation has claimed that ‘sneaky sexism’ is heavily on display in modern-day commercials.

We’ve all seen the vintage adverts from the ‘Mad Men’ days and laughed in disbelief at how sexist they were.

Inspired by 100 years of Women in Advertising and Communications Leadership (WACL), Channel 4’s recent Mad Women documentary contained such gems as breakfast cereals urging men to ‘train your wife’ and wondering ‘what her waistline will be like in 5 years time’.

Elsewhere, housewives were apparently delighted that they could do the washing up four times a day and still have soft, ladylike hands, or got so excited at fresh-smelling carpets that they couldn’t help but sing and dance about it.

Certainly, we’ve come a long way since those days, when advertisers in the ’50s and ’60s based in Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, would delight in using stereotypes to promote products.

But adland’s depiction of women hasn’t changed as much as it appears, according to WACL, a UK-based club of female leaders in advertising and communications on a mission to improve gender equality in the industry.

Women account for over 80 per cent of all consumer purchase decisions, says the organisation, yet 91 per cent say advertisers don’t understand them and they don’t feel represented in the images they see every day.

But it’s not just a commercial issue – six out of ten women apparently believe advertising plays an important role in challenging stereotypes in society more broadly too.

In its 100th year, WACL’s 300 plus senior women in advertising and communications are determined to amplify the voices of women who want the industry to #RepresentMe better – and spoke to young girls aged 12-18 to see what they demanded from future ads.

It included bringing awareness to women’s safety, ditching outdated stereotypes and allowing females to appear in more than just ‘sweet’ or ‘sexy’ imagery.

Here, WACL’s Comms Exec lead, author of No More Menemies and Founder of The Others & Me, Lori Meakin reveals the modern-day ads guilty of ‘sneaky sexism’ and other issues…

1. DISMISSING PERSONAL SAFETY

Samsung Galaxy ‘Night Owls’ from 2022

In April 2022, a Samsung advert featuring a woman jogging alone at night in London, with headphones on, was branded ‘tone deaf’ by viewers

In April 2022, a Samsung advert featuring a woman jogging alone at night in London, with headphones on, was branded ‘tone deaf’ by viewers.

Critics – who claim ‘women wouldn’t feel safe doing that’ – said the one-minute ad plugging the Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Buds 2 and the Galaxy SS2 phone was ‘naive’ and ‘insulting’.

The commercial – called Night Owls – sees a sporty woman checking her watch at 2am, before putting in earbuds and heading out into the dark for a night-time jog in the British capital.

Lori explained: ‘The ever-present threat of sexual violence in real life means that when ads simply appear oblivious to women’s safety worries, they come in for massive criticism.

‘Samsung discovered this after its Night Owls ad featured a woman in headphones running through the city late at night, prompting Adidas to create an ad of its own shining a light on how ridiculous it is that 92 per cent of women don’t feel safe going for a run.’

In a statement, Samsung told Femail: ‘The “Night Owls” campaign was designed with a positive message in mind: to celebrate individuality and freedom to exercise at all hours.

‘It was never our intention to be insensitive to ongoing conversations around women’s safety.

‘As a global company with a diverse workforce, we apologise for how this may have been received.’

Sainsbury’s Tu ‘Strolls after dark’ from January 2023

In January 2023, Sainsbury’s bowed to public anger and removed from stores a dress advert that sparked furious complaints that the supermarket was ignoring women’s safety

In January 2023, Sainsbury’s bowed to public anger and removed from stores a dress advert that sparked furious complaints that the supermarket was ignoring women’s safety.

It had installed posters in hundreds of stores across the country for a £24 dress from its new collection with the caption: ‘For walks in the parks or strolls after dark.’

Bosses apologised and had the posters taken down after a furious backlash on social media.

Lori said: ‘Such is the level of concern that even a seemingly innocuous Sainsbury’s Tu ad ended up being removed from stores after it was heavily criticised for making light of the dangers women face when walking alone at night.

‘Clearly, women’s concerns about personal safety are not to be underestimated by advertisers.’

2. MORE SPACE GIVEN TO MEN… EVEN IN CARTOONS

Christmas 2023 adverts like Aldi’s, John Lewis’ and Coca-Cola’s

Lori noted that this is plain to see in this year’s Christmas adverts – including Asda’s cheerful commercial that includes Michael Bublé (pictured) as their leading man, Rick Astley featuring in Sainsbury’s offering and Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in the M&S Food ad

Women make up just 37 per cent of the people who appear in adverts, according to BusinessDIT, while only 26 per cent of ads feature women in a lead role – and 5 per cent include only females on screen, whereas five times as many boast just men.

Lori noted that this is plain to see in this year’s Christmas adverts – including Asda’s cheerful commercial that includes Michael Bublé as their leading man, Rick Astley featuring in Sainsbury’s offering and Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in the M&S Food ad.

‘Coca-Cola singlehandedly boosted the male numbers with its ‘The World Needs More Santas’ ad,’ claimed the author.

‘And although Boots, Vodafone, Sainsbury’s and Amazon all use leading ladies, we see numerous male celebs including Michael Bublé, Graham Norton, Rick Astley and even Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney joining Dawn French for M&S.

‘Which brings us to hon-human characters. John Lewis’s Venus Fly Trap Snapper is sold as a ‘he’, just like Monty the Penguin, Buster the Boxer, Moz the Monster and Edgar The Dragon were.

Released in November, Aldi’s festive ad this year saw Kevin The Carrot tour William Conker’s Christmas factory with the likes of spoilt little sprout and greedy, gluttonous grape

‘And one of the most successful and popular ads of the season features Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot, who’s been a big hit for the last few years.’

Released in November, Aldi’s festive ad this year saw Kevin The Carrot tour William Conker’s Christmas factory with the likes of spoilt little sprout and greedy, gluttonous grape.

It marked Kevin’s eighth year as the budget supermarket’s festive mascot.

Narrated by acting legend Jim Broadbent in the style of a poem, the advert tells the story of Kevin’s trip to the factory alongside Grandpa Grate and four other competition winners.

But Lori said: ‘Imagine if the norm was for half of advertising’s non-human characters to be female. It’s true that you can’t be what you can’t see, and the power of ads to break down barriers for women is huge.

‘Maybe it’s no wonder we don’t see more in ads, though, as in the UK, only 12 per cent of creative directors are female, according to Creative Equals.

‘Even if the current rate of change doubled, we wouldn’t achieve WACL’s ambition of 50 per cent women in the top job in agencies until 2045.’

3. WOMEN SEEN IN ‘CARING’ ROLES MORE

UK Government’s 2021 ‘Stay Home. Save Lives’ ad

In 2021, the UK Government was forced to withdraw a ‘sexist’ lockdown poster following a furious backlash over its depiction of women

In 2021, the UK Government was forced to withdraw a ‘sexist’ lockdown poster following a furious backlash over its depiction of women.

The poster showed one picture of a woman reclining in a man’s arms on the sofa followed by three images of women looking after children and cleaning.

One image illustrated a woman ironing while holding a baby, another showed a mother homeschooling her children and one depicted a woman wearing rubber gloves with her daughter sweeping the floor.

But it sparked outrage among campaigners, who said: ”Mums’ are not the only people juggling homes, childcare and work. This attitude sucks.’

The poster was withdrawn amid increasing fury on social media. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘It has been withdrawn and removed from the campaign.

‘I will make clear that it does not reflect the Government’s view on women which is why we have withdrawn it.’

The schoolgirls WACL spoke with didn’t ‘like ads boxing women into kitchens and caring roles, as it gave boys and men ammunition to tell them that’s where they belonged,’ said Lori.

4. TYPECAST AS PRETTY, SEXY OR SWEET

Lancome x The Louvre, ‘Beauty is a Living Art’, from 2023 and Kaia Gerber for Daisy, Marc Jacobs

Lori said: ‘Meanwhile, in perfume ads, for instance, middle aged men can be rugged and drive the action, while women can be sexy or sweet, but not much else.’ She notes Johnny Depp for Dior Sauvage and Brad Pitt for Chanel no 5, compared to Whitney Peake for Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and Kaia Gerber for Daisy, Marc Jacobs (pictured)

The schoolgirls WACL chatted to apparently said they’d love if adverts didn’t objectify women and adopt a ‘really narrow view of what looking good means’.

Lori added: ‘Too often ads play the old shame game, suggesting that women should be thin, young, classically beautiful, with perfect hair, no body hair; and they should perform for the male gaze.

‘Like Lancome x The Louvre, which features impossibly beautiful young women including Zendaya, wafting around like living works of art.

‘Female characters in ads are four times more likely to be shown in revealing clothing than men, and twice as likely to be visually or verbally objectified, with a quarter of all ads that feature women presenting them in a sexualised way.

‘Meanwhile, in perfume ads, for instance, middle aged men can be rugged and drive the action, while women can be sexy or sweet, but not much else.’

She notes Johnny Depp for Dior Sauvage and Brad Pitt for Chanel no 5, compared to Whitney Peake for Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and Kaia Gerber for Daisy, Marc Jacobs.

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Robert De Niro’s production company must pay ex-assistant Graham Chase Robinson $1.2 million after she wins sexism lawsuit

Albert Elence — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 22:11:51 +0000

Robert De Niro’s production company Canal Productions has been found liable for gender discrimination and retaliation against his former assistant Graham Chase Robinson – and ordered to pay her $1.2 million in damages.

The Taxi Driver star, 80, was accused of being an abusive boss in the bombshell trial heard by eight Manhattan Federal Court jurors.

Jurors were dispatched just before noon local time on Thursday after hearing a week and a half of evidence in the $12 million case brought by 41-year-old Robinson.

De Niro denied Robinson’s claims and sued her for $6 million, claiming she stole five million of his air miles.

The iconic actor denied losing his cool with Robinson, but did just that in court, shouting “Shame on you, Chase Robinson!” last week, before apologizing.

Graham Chase Robinson is photographed outside court on Tuesday before the conclusion of her $12 million lawsuit against former employer Robert De Niro

In the most stunning claims, Robinson branded her former boss with ‘creepy’ and ‘disgusting’ requests for back pain.

Sobbing as she spoke on Nov. 3, Robinson said, “I said there was a back scratcher he could use instead.” “He said, ‘I prefer the way you do it.'”

“It was creepy, just disgusting.”

The actor insisted there was nothing untoward or sexist about it and that his requests did not constitute gender discrimination.

Robinson also claimed that De Niro labeled her a “bitch” two or three times during the 11 years she worked for him.

She said he accused her of acting “like a little bitch” after a fire broke out in his New York mansion.

Robinson said the slur was used again in December 2017, when De Niro lashed out after being unable to find Christmas presents at his home.

Robert De Niro outside Manhattan Federal Court Wednesday evening as closing arguments in Graham Chase Robinson’s lawsuit against him moved toward a conclusion

‘He was swearing left and right. I tried to work it out, but he just said I was a bitch.”

Robinson was employed by De Niro’s Canal Pictures and began working there in 2008 as an executive assistant with a salary of $75,000.

By the time she resigned in April 2019, she had been promoted to vice president of production and finance and was paid $300,000 a year.

Robinson was essentially De Niro’s fixer and says she was expected to be available 24/7, 365 days a year to help him with his children, family and medical care.

She also clashed with De Niro’s girlfriend Tiffany Chen after claiming Chen “humiliated” her by forcing her to order vacuum cleaners and organize director Martin Scorsese’s birthday party.

Chen accused Robinson of overspending and branded the former employee “obsessive, psychotic and dangerous” while on the witness stand last week.

Robinson said De Niro held male and female employees to different standards.

A court sketch shows Robert De Niro giving evidence on October 31. He lost his cool with Chase Robinson in court

‘Female employees were expected to be on call for Bob 24/7. He didn’t expect male employees to be there for him,” she claimed, adding that the Oscar winner referred to his female assistants as “the girls.”

She said, “Men can be unavailable and Bob wouldn’t mind.”

Robinson says she asked for the same salary as colleague Dan Harvey, who is the actor’s personal trainer and has worked with him since 1985.

But she claims De Niro gave a poor excuse for refusing: “Chase, you don’t have children. Dan has a family to support.”

‘It made me so sad. It frustrated me, it made me angry… I was really hurt by that comment,” she told the court. ‘I gave this job my life. I didn’t have children because I worked.’

Her salary was subsequently increased from $200,000 to $300,000, while Harvey was making $290,000 at the time.

De Niro’s attorney Richard Schoenstein questioned Robinson on the stand, asking her, “Did you think you should be paid the same as someone who has worked with Mr. De Niro since you were in kindergarten?”

On Wednesday, the court also heard from De Niro’s personal trainer Harvey, 63, who has also spoken to the actor ahead of filming for the past four decades.

Harvey said he has been a full-time trainer for De Niro since 1985, spending two to seven hours with the actor about 330 days a year and traveling with him to filming locations around the world.

De Niro is pictured with his girlfriend Tiffany Chen in June. Robinson and Chen got into an argument, with Chen expressing concerns about Robinson’s spending

Holding a tissue to her face, Robinson appeared emotional Tuesday as she told the court she feared no one would take her word against De Niro’s.

Her resignation email was shown to the jury and she told De Niro that she had been “loyal, protective, honest and extremely hardworking.”

“I poured my heart and soul into this job and as a result, other parts of my life and opportunities were put on hold. You always came first,” she wrote.

It has been more than three years since she left Canal Productions and in her testimony she said she has applied for 638 jobs since then but has not received a single interview.

She revealed that she suffers from depression, anxiety and insomnia and has to take medication to even leave the apartment she shares with her mother.

‘I have lost my life. I’ve lost my career. I have lost my financial independence. I lost everything,” said Robinson, who is now seeing a therapist.

On Tuesday, Robinson’s psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Goldstein, diagnosed her with generalized anxiety disorder related to her work at Canal.

The practicing psychiatrist said Robinson suffered from the “severe and often debilitating mental illness” after evaluating her in January 2019 and reviewing more than three years of medical records.

He said she suffered from symptoms such as insomnia and memory loss, and “experienced a lot of psychological pain and emotional discomfort,” which began while she was employed by De Niro.

When asked what the trigger for this mental condition was, he said, “Her perception of discrimination and retaliation at her workplace.”

But a psychiatrist hired by De Niro’s lawyers described Robinson as “narcissistic and paranoid.”

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