This week reading and film had many connections and surprised me while still having them impact my understand of medical oppression. One connection I found in the two readings “12 Reasons It Should Be Illegal for Doctors Not to Treat Trans People “By Diana Tourjée and “A Birth Story” By Dána-Ain Davis, Cheyenne Varner & LeConté J. Dill was they both emphasize the discrimination transgenders and Black women faced in the health care systems. While transgender is either being refused to be seen or disrespected when needing medical help, Black women are faced with being ignored and being intentionally hurt. It is medically unethical to have treated any patients like that but instead of repercussion, doctors and nurses who treat people inhumanly receive support. I am not saying they are not important or should not be appreciated but it is a known fact that some doctors and nurse are racist and do not take accountability for the malpractice they showcased. Surprisingly LeConté J. Dil story and poem was most shocking to me not because of the oppression but because there was no one that ever spoke up or witness this and said something, especially in a hospital. As a medical assistant and having some experience in urgent care I do not see how this would have ever happened, it is very disappointing and shocking to say the least. The film “Period: End of Sentence” build on my understanding of the taboo not only in India but many other countries that have similar issue like being dismissive when a women’s menstrual cycle is brought up. I really enjoy the film because of all the feminism that was shown, such as not being forced to get married but instead striving to exceed on their careers as well as women’s working together to make pads and help women in their communities, taking a stance for women. The formatting in the stories this week impacted my understanding of medical oppression against gender, race and even the color of one’s skin. While this is still an on-going problem with medical workers and facilities, I have come to realize that it comes down to the health care workers and doctors. These people think it Is okay to treat people with disrespect and discrimination because society, organizations and health care departments supporting and justifying them by stating that it is “enforcing all of the civil rights laws as entrusted to us by Congress.” What about the civil rights law for transgender and Black people and many people that have been discriminated but have not spoken out and been acknowledge? The problem is the “support” and reasoning that the HHS given for allowing federally funded healthcare providers and insurers to legally deny care to transgender people. Overall, this week’s activities gave a bigger picture to the issues in the healthcare system and facilities.  

The format of this week’s readings and the film is much more personal and less “academic,” yet it does not make the intended message unclear. The pathos in them creates a stronger sense of a problem because you can have a visual example of a real individual’s experience. As a result, it’s not perceived as something theoretical or complicated or rare, but as an existing issue that affects people. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced medical oppression and I am new to this whole discussion; as an immigrant, I also have a distorted view of the US medical system (as the highest standard one), so it was surprising to learn that there is so much discrimination and general negligence existing within it. I cannot wrap it around my head because it sounds bizarre and pointless to deny [proper] medical care to anyone at all. The job of medical professionals is to take care of human bodies, that all function the same way on a basic level, so why would any features of these bodies matter at all? 

It wasn’t as surprising to see the stigma surrounding periods in the film “Period: End of Sentence”, because I was somewhat exposed to it in my younger years. The treatment of periods in India reminded me of Jewish culture as well, which I learned about from my stepdad. A lot of his religious relatives have a separate room in their house for the wives to sleep in when they’re on their period. To explain this, I’ll quote an article “Jewish Women Open Up About Getting Their Periods” by Aimee Rubensteen that I found on the web:

The Torah states that a woman becomes ritually impure (teme’ah) when she has her period, and it’s interpreted from the Torah verses that a woman can’t have sex with her husband during this time. When her period ends, she regains her spiritually pure status (taharah) by immersing in a ritual bath (mikvah).

The period poverty and stigma is very common in the world and directly deals with patriarchy as well, which is addressed in the film. One of the interviewed women said, “When there’s patriarchy, it takes time to talk about something related to women.” Similarly, in a world where other kinds of oppression exist, it takes time to talk about the oppressed groups’ obstacles. In both of the readings, we see how racism and transphobia prevent individuals from being treated as humans in medical institutions, and apparently, it has not seen an improvement. Though it is not apparent, the film connects with the readings by showing how much social systems affect personal health of people, which also reminds me of “Personal Is Political” slogan.

In two readings “A birth story” and “12 reasons it should be illegal for doctors not to treat a trans person.” I wasn’t surprised by two of the reading, healthcare in the black community and in the trans community is difficult especially when trump was president he wanted to remove healthcare in the trans community. (I believe) One of the parts I relate to in a story was when LeConté experience pain when the nurse repeated inserted the IV inside of her knowing that it hurt, it happened to me one time when I went to the hospital in Gun Hill Road, Bronx NY. It was extremely painful and since then I have been terrified of IVs more than the butterfly needle. (The needle they use to take out blood). One of the worse experiences of neglect was when at Lincoln Hospital located on 3rd ave Bronx NY my grandfather (who couldn’t speak English at all) was in a coma and all they asked my family as if he was interested in donating his organs to the people in need, they didn’t take care of him or anything which leads him to die. If people decide to join the health administration the most important thing they need to learn is to treat everyone no matter what race or gender you are with care, we’re all humans who deserve a healthy life. This also connects to the other reading, 12 reasons it should be illegal for doctors not to treat a trans person. In the reading, there were people who explain their stories of how the health care administration wouldn’t take care of people who are non-binary or transgender. These reading both connect to how gender and race are being neglected and abused in the healthcare system due to the fact they’re either African American, transgender, or non-binary, this has been doing on through decades and the nurses or EMTs get away with it, and not have their licenses revolved, getting fired, or being sued.

In the film, “Period. End of sentence.” This film explains to women in India that are educating people about menstruation and people who are making machines to create pads for women to use instead of using cotton and going outside during the middle of the night considering whether they should change clothes or not. This is known to be the only film that surprise me because I thought women around the world have pads and I believe it’s amazing for women to create a business so they can make pads for women who need them.

In both a birth story and 12 reasons it wasn’t so much of a surprise as I have witnessed both scenarios before working in the healthcare field. The surprising part to most people would be that it happens more then you think. Firstly working in the healthcare field is very difficult mentally and physically but with that said there are a certain portion of people that just should not be working in the field period. Like I said I was not surprised reading her testimony in a birth story. However during the reading I found myself shaking my head with the words “yup, I seen that before” replaying in my head.

With the 12 reasons , I can empathize with the sense of not being seen or treated as an equal medically . This is huge however that I am sure to get arrows thrown at me but whatever, In the medical field their are people who are scared to interact with trans people. The reason why you ask?, because now we live in a time where everyone is offended by everything. What does that matter?, offending the wrong person when that was not your intention at all could mean loss of your job, or being sued or both. So when a trans person needs to be registered or cared for their is a certain criteria of egg shells that people walk on , they are nervous to ask basic question in order not to ruffle feathers or upset them. I think its a lose lose scenario. For example where I worked their were a few trans people that would come in , some were cool some were horrid . This one in particular would come in always around 3:00am, in not the best condition , lets say her name was Stefany I remember because every time she came in she would give me her ID that said Steven and I would ask “when are you gonna get your ID changed “? and she would reply I am gonna do it but never did. So since she was a regular she would ask everyone to call her Steph. Now lets say the regular staff was not there that night and there was a new Doctor filling in for the time or a nurse that was unfamiliar and calls Stefany , Steven. Stefany is now irate and wants to pursue things further in court even thou the ID clearly says the name Steven. Whether accidentally or not things can and have escalated I have witnessed this type of scenario as well. Yes I think their are horrible people in healthcare but at the same time it is outweighed by people who do want to generally help anyone walking through those hospital doors. Despite what gender they align themselves with they are just very nervous or cautious as to what they say the more parenthesis or tree branches their are makes it even that much more difficult for the people trying to assist.

I am a very visual person so when it comes to topics I would much rather see it in real time .In birth stories visually it helped seeing the pictures as well as the added poetry to really gauge how she felt during her stay at the hospital. In period end of sentence visually was engaging due to how uninformed people were about woman having periods. You were basically discarded , weren’t allowed to work or pray. It was the basis for when I make the argument about “oppression”. In the west its almost celebrated , over there they don’t want anything to do with you . Go over to that country and tell them about how oppressed you are over in the united states and see how long they laugh. The lady in the video was told by her parents when you have your period in does not matter if you pray the gods don’t hear you that blew my mind. Another thing that was unbelievable was how she said she was going to join the police in order to escape having to get married. Are you really that oppressed ? have you ever had to get a random job in order to escape an arranged marriage?. What they all shared was the theme of being cast aside , or being neglected due to elements that were beyond ones control. The feeling of maltreatment from an intuition that is supposed to be caring or attentive towards you .

This week’s readings and film all address medical or health concerns of different groups, and how those concerns are impacted by social stigma and oppression. In your discussion post for this week, please address the following:

• What surprised you in the readings and film?
• What connections could you find across the readings and film?
• How does the format in which the stories are shared impact your understanding of medical oppression and/or other aspects of gender we have discussed this semester?

Format Requirements

• Due: Wednesday, April 27, 11:59 pm. 
• Written in complete, well-formed sentences & carefully proofread
• Engaged with the assigned text by explicitly referring to and/or citing them
• 400 to 500 words. Longer, but not shorter, posts are fine. To view your word count, click the info symbol at the top of the post draft!

How to Create the Post

• 1) Click on the black plus sign in a white circle at the very top of the site (in the black bar) to start the post draft:

• 2) In the title box, type the title “[FirstName] [LastName] Discussion 12“.
• 3) In the body of the post, type your response to the prompt.
• 4) On the right side, choose the post category “Discussion 12.” Your post will not publish without a category.
• 5) Click the blue Publish button on the top right.

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• Here is a video tutorial on how to publish a post.
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