Choosing not to listen to and respond to the health needs of Black & brown persons is the primary driver of medical racism. Many peo...
Choosing not to listen to and respond to the health needs of Black & brown persons is the primary driver of medical racism.
Many people who have experienced medical racism will describe being/feeling:
"unheard", "talked over", "dismissed", "tossed aside" and/or "ignored."
The solutions to this global wide and long-enduring gap in health services lie with the voices of those who have long been ignored, dismissed, unheard, talked over, tossed aside, and ignored. We can listen now.
The main people who ought to be consulted about patient care and language are those most impacted. The voices of adult human females, women; especially Black women who have or will bear children should be not only heard, but centered.
Listen. Respect. Protect.
As we talk about replacing medical phrases in the English language, may we refrain from repeating the same racism embedded in the American healthcare system.
Women, all women, have a right to dignity, respect, & privacy. To even have to negotiate, compromise, and explain our reasons is in itself, oppression. We deserve and demand no less than what males are given .....without having to battle for it.
AND, we have a right to demand language that conveys those values. IF women who have, or at the highest risk of medical racism express pain, discomfort, or just don't want to be called a "birthing body" or "birthing person" then by all means don't call women a "birthing body" or "birthing person.
Even under the most privileged circumstances, childbirth is HARD! It changes your body forever. The very least that one can do is give pregnant women respect. If you can't do that, maybe this is too hard for you.
Pregnancy and childbirth are a miracle that requires superhuman growth, compassion, and understanding. At least.
Perhaps you might consider leaving pregnancy and childbirth alone entirely.
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