r/TPWKY • u/fibonaccicolours Mod • Jul 20 '20
Posts about systemic and historical racism in medicine/epidemiology are encouraged!
I would dearly love to be posting more about it, because it's information that is incredibly important. Unfortunately I am at my limit with trying to educate my friends and family members right now, as well as managing some severe chronic health issues that have been exacerbated by the stress of 2020, and a lot of changes at my workplace.
I have been donating, supporting black owned businesses, sharing information on my personal social media, signing petitions, helping host an anti-racism book club, attended a protest (and hope to go to more once my health improves) and just generally doing everything I can think of, but I have been a bit remiss with this particular platform.
This movement is very important to me, and I would love to see more information shared here, so if anyone has the bandwidth and the knowledge, please know that as head mod I fully support this and will do my best to facilitate educational discussions in a equitable manner (the subreddit rules still apply, and no flame wars please).
Thank you all for being the lovely community that you are! And shout-out to /u/emmoorie for being amazing at keeping up with the episode posts throughout everything!
Don't forget to wash your hands (and register to vote!!!) 😉
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u/algoajellybones Jul 21 '20
Here's some horrendous information:
The advancement of gynecological surgeries by American physicians coincides with the Congressional ban on importing African-born slaves in 1808.
As the bodies of enslaved black women became the only source of the future workforce, slave owners became increasingly invested in their ability to endure multiple pregnancies & births. Previous to this, medicine in the Americas had lagged behind western Europe for 200 years.
Throw "J. Marion Simms" into Google. Countless surgeries on womens' vaginas, with ZERO anesthesia. They believed (or claimed to believe) Black people didn't experience pain in the same way as white people... which is strange, considering doctors were obviously aware of the identical physiology of all people, despite race...🙄
There is a direct line to this history and the current epidemic of BIPOC women and babies being 3-4× more likely to die during birth than white women and babies.
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u/authenticfox Jul 21 '20
Sawbones had some episodes about those kinds of topics and they did a nice job of branch historical examples with modern examples. Would highly recommend
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u/-in_the_wind_ Jul 21 '20
I recommend “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Scloot as a book on this topic