I’ve heard a lot of similar stories to “A Birth Story.” Amidst the George Floyd attacks, women began speaking about real situations they faced in the hospital. Many of them said doctors are not there to help black women. In several of the stories, I heard that they all said this one thing. Try to look for black nurses to help you. Medical students and doctors have come out and revealed that in medical schools they are taught that black women have higher pain tolerance, so they shouldn’t accommodate them. It’s messed up and unfortunate that even in hospitals we aren’t protected. It makes me wonder if we are safe anywhere if even our doctors aren’t looking out for us. The same goes for trans people. The point of doctors is to save lives. So why are they turning away and dismissing people who could have life-threatening issues? It isn’t fair at all. Who are they to decide who is worthy of treatment and who is not? Things need to change. The medical system needs to be wiser about who they choose to give medical licenses to and they should update their policies.
I realized after watching “Period. End of sentence.” that I wasn’t the only one who was taught that periods were something to be embarrassed about. Much like breastfeeding, it’s normal, but women are shamed for it. In my house, we’re always forced to cover up any evidence of periods. We have to hide the pads. We can’t mention cramps to the men in our family. It’s taboo. It never made any sense to me. Especially since it’s normal for women to have periods. When they tell us to hide them, they essentially tell us that our periods aren’t normal. Tampons and pads should be given for free and everyone should have access to them. Growing up here in America is a privilege. The treatment of women in other countries is terrifying, so although my experience with periods wasn’t so great, I have acknowledged my privilege. My friend had somewhat of a similar experience where she wasn’t allowed to go to church on her period because it was viewed as unclean. And as the saying goes, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” so she had to stay home. I always wondered if God was the one to give us periods, why wasn’t she allowed to come into the church? I think if the roles were reversed and guys had periods, it would be a lot more normalized.
Ashanti, thank you for sharing your experience with period stigma at home. I can totally relate: while my mother left for a work trip, I was lying to my dad that I’m not going to school because I got a cold instead of telling him that I’m having an unusually painful period (few days after which I ended up in the hospital). I also like your last sentence — though it makes me wonder whether men would still have more privilege if everything was reversed.
Ashanti i totally agree with you regarding the doctors about them having to save lives. So why are they turning away and dismissing people who could have life-threatening issues? It isn’t fair at all. Who are they to decide who is worthy of treatment and who is not? Things need to change. The medical system needs to be wiser about who they choose to give medical licenses to and they should update their policies. Reading the story made me think of all this also. Like why even let them practice. Take the license. It should not matter who, what how you are to get proper treatment or medical care.
Hello Ashanti, I agree with you. It is terrible that medical students are often taught that black women tolerate more pain. It is very unfair that your skin color determines the quality of healthcare you have access to.
Hi Ashanti! I was very surprised when you said about black women being taught to have a higher tolerance for pain, it’s really sad how different treatment exists just because you’re a different race or just because you’re different. It is really sad to know that doctors have ways of treating each person, when I used to think that doctors were the most reasonable people who treated anyone in the same way no matter what. Also, it’s really sad that we have to hide our nature just because we were taught that we should feel ashamed if someone else finds out. I’m also surprised by what you mentioned about your friend, how you can be a “civilized” society and have all those beliefs, just for something natural. I think the same about if the boys had it, it would be more normalized, because I feel that the boys in a certain way have much more rights and society will always see them well.
Hey Ashanti, I agree how can a doctor pick and choose if your oath is to save lives that is a great question and that law they are trying to pass is discriminatory and in no way progressive !!