doctors not taking anything she says seriously, even when her symptoms are obvious
I’m married to a white woman, and she also experiences this, so this might be a gender discrimination problem, rather than (or in addition to) a racial discrimination problem, sadly.
I think it’s both. It probably starts with gender discrimination (as the medical field highly favors men. Look at the differences in how we are taught about heart attacks for men and women for example) but then on top of that, it adds the racial discrimination.
Black women (and especially queer black women) are among the most discriminated groups sadly
Older doctors were literally taught that black women have a higher pain tolerance. This in part originated from an early gynecologist doing experiments on black women slaves without bothering to give them any anesthetics. His justification for it was basically that they could handle the pain, and there are doctors practicing medicine today that still belive it.
You might actually look into how long that was taught and pervaded into medical attitudes, how little women’s anatomy has been studied compared to men’s, and assumptions made about care for black people and women compared to white people and men, respectively, before making comments like this.
I don’t have the time to look it up for you, but I will recommend the book Bonk by Mary Roach for the anatomy stuff. You will be very surprised.
We’re both Eastern Europeans in Western Europe, so not visible minorities until we open our mouths.
We were recently house hunting, and my wife is the sole earner.
I can’t count how many times we had to explain that, or how many times we were disadvantaged against people with the opposite situation. When we applied for a joint bank account with both of us working, guess whose name they put on the account. Or try getting hired without getting asked about your family situation. For her, it always comes up in “small talk” in interviews, very obliquely of course. For me, maybe six months to one year into the job.
On the other hand, she opens the street door every time there’s a heavy delivery, as they don’t try to have her carry heavy cargo to our apartment like they do to me, despite it being paid for.
It does depend on gender, but also on race. Even many of the medical procedures are inherently racist, since they were developed mostly with white men in mind. Especially anything that calls for visual checks can be very biased.
I’m married to a white woman, and she also experiences this, so this might be a gender discrimination problem, rather than (or in addition to) a racial discrimination problem, sadly.
I think it’s both. It probably starts with gender discrimination (as the medical field highly favors men. Look at the differences in how we are taught about heart attacks for men and women for example) but then on top of that, it adds the racial discrimination.
Black women (and especially queer black women) are among the most discriminated groups sadly
Same here. Even women doctors have been shitty to my white wife over things that should be obvious or at least taken seriously.
I can only imagine black women have it worse and that makes me pretty furious considering what I’ve already seen.
Well known gender thing, worse for women of color.
The prejudices stack together, unfortunately
This RPG’s rules are bullshit!
Older doctors were literally taught that black women have a higher pain tolerance. This in part originated from an early gynecologist doing experiments on black women slaves without bothering to give them any anesthetics. His justification for it was basically that they could handle the pain, and there are doctors practicing medicine today that still belive it.
Yeah, lots of doctors that graduated university in 1870 running around
You might actually look into how long that was taught and pervaded into medical attitudes, how little women’s anatomy has been studied compared to men’s, and assumptions made about care for black people and women compared to white people and men, respectively, before making comments like this.
I don’t have the time to look it up for you, but I will recommend the book Bonk by Mary Roach for the anatomy stuff. You will be very surprised.
A survey of medical students in 2016 found the same trends in actual beliefs, long after the data disproved the theory.
Yep.
Being a woman trying to get your medical concerns taken seriously is hell.
Can’t imagine how awful it would be to stack “not white” on top of that, too.
We’re both Eastern Europeans in Western Europe, so not visible minorities until we open our mouths.
We were recently house hunting, and my wife is the sole earner.
I can’t count how many times we had to explain that, or how many times we were disadvantaged against people with the opposite situation. When we applied for a joint bank account with both of us working, guess whose name they put on the account. Or try getting hired without getting asked about your family situation. For her, it always comes up in “small talk” in interviews, very obliquely of course. For me, maybe six months to one year into the job.
On the other hand, she opens the street door every time there’s a heavy delivery, as they don’t try to have her carry heavy cargo to our apartment like they do to me, despite it being paid for.
It does depend on gender, but also on race. Even many of the medical procedures are inherently racist, since they were developed mostly with white men in mind. Especially anything that calls for visual checks can be very biased.