A study about how endometriosis affects men’s sex lives has come under fire, with women saying researchers should be focusing on ways to help those suffering from the ‘debilitating’ disease.

The study, being conducted by a master’s student at University of Sydney, is investigating how men's “sexual well-being” is impacted when their female partner experiences painful sex due to endometriosis.

However, several women have blasted the study for focusing on men, given that the disease — dubbed a "silent epidemic" affecting one in 10 Australian women — already attracts little attention or funding compared to other illnesses affecting similar number of Australians, such as asthma and diabetes.

Endometriosis research received less than 5 percent of the funding allocated to asthma and diabetes by the nation’s medical research body last year.

Imogen Dunlevie, from Melbourne, told Honey she was outraged when she heard about the study.

“My reaction was anger. I can understand the place for researching how partners are impacted. But, at the moment there is such little focus and funding for endometriosis, it seems odd to research its impacts on men,” she said.

“I also worry about what precedent is set by having a male-centric focus on endometriosis.”

The 23-year-old said studies such as this could also suggest female diseases were only worth giving attention to if they demonstrated an impact on men.

Dunlevie, who studies politics and gender studies, was diagnosed with endometriosis at 15 after two years of chronic period pain which often left her unable to walk.

The “debilitating” disease still affected her ability to study and work, she told Honey.

“It means I can't stand for long periods of time which can make socialising more difficult. There isn't a part of my life that isn't impacted,” she added.

Dunlevie said she thought other things needed to be prioritised over how the disease impacted men, including less invasive ways to diagnose, better treatment and more effective pain management.

However, University of NSW women's health lecturer Dr Therese Foran told Honey large-scale research into treatments and cures of diseases, such as endometriosis, tended to be done by multinational pharmaceutical companies rather than universities.

“This sort of work is done by multinational pharmaceutical companies investing billions into research that is so far over what university students could even think about implementing.

“Yes, the research needs to be done, but we need to persuade pharmaceuticals and governments.”

Dr Foran said she believed more “intriguing” conditions often received better funding, adding: “pain and bleeding in women don’t seem to garner huge amounts of endowments”.

However, having worked in women’s health for more than 40 years, Dr Foran said she thought research into male partner’s well-being could be beneficial, given how many women she came across whose relationships suffered as a result of the disease.

“While I can understand as a women’s condition it’s probably grueling to find out that men are being asked, I see a lot of women who suffer from this and know that it very much impacts on their relationships.

“I think it’s a reasonable thing to explore within the condition more broadly.”

It could also help provide women with information about what their partners really think, she added.

“Sometimes men find it difficult to communicate to their partners particularly around sex and don't want to hurt their partner's feelings. This kind of research could give those men and women some tips for communication and a greater idea of how it impacts on them and their sexual relationship.”

Honey understands the University of Sydney has not contributed any direct funding towards this study.

University of Sydney did not respond to Honey’s requests for comment.