The YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women—we fight systems of oppression every day. Privilege is an assumption that one way is the normal way and that any deviation from that is just an exception.

Systems of oppression use privilege—all types of it, from white privilege to cis-gendered privilege to class privilege—to function. So it’s not a surprise that this affects the ways that health information is taught to us. Heart attacks are an example of this. We’ve been taught from movies and TV that a heart attack “usually” or “normally” feels like a sudden, intense chest pain, when in reality that’s a male-privileged view. For women, the signs of a heart attack may not fit that description. This means that heart attacks in women often go unnoticed and untreated, even though heart disease is the leading cause of death in women.

Although the sudden “elephant on the chest” feeling is the most common symptom of a heart attack, women may experience the other signs instead. The American Heart Association describes them as follows:

1. Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
2. Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
3. Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
4. Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

If you have any of these signs, don’t wait more than five minutes before calling for help. Being a woman does not mean that the signs of a heart attack should go unnoticed.

And remember, there are many ways to prevent heart disease, including quitting smoking, increasing exercise, losing weight, and eating nutritious foods that are low in sodium.