The Woman-Womb: Removal of the Mule Image of Black Women and Health

by WOCPSCN

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Event description

This three-part discussion will consider the role of black women in the development of medical-social change.

About this Event

According to the American Heart Association, "Being an African American 'superwoman' might come with a price". The affects are from heart disease to mental health. Black women are more disporotionaly affected to improper medical treatment due to racisom. Yet, it is black women that always stand up and save the world (i.e., 2020 presidential election).

The very women that displayed how the American construct works, are the same women that suffer due to their historical relationship in the American construct.

The sexual and reproductive health of African American women has been compromised due to multiple experiences of racism, including discriminatory healthcare practices from slavery through the post-Civil Rights era. However, studies rarely consider how the historical underpinnings of racism negatively influence the present-day health outcomes of African American women [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6167003/]. For example, in 1961, Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer (1917-1977) received a hysterectomy by a white doctor without her consent while undergoing surgery to remove a uterine tumor. Such forced sterilization of Black women, as a way to reduce the Black population, was so widespread it was dubbed a “Mississippi appendectomy.”

Now in its second year, COVID-19 has ravished black women. "Black people have a long history of poor medical treatment – no wonder many are hesitant to take COVID vaccines https://theconversation.com/black-people-have-a-long-history-of-poor-medical-treatment-no-wonder-many-are-hesitant-to-take-covid-vaccines-150214]".

Join us, as we draw from medial and academic professionals to discuss the body of the black female continued "mule" role.