I can't say how much pain I felt in seeing many of these issues that I did not know were so deeply rooted. I am starting to understand that if we don't ask why things are the way they are, they continue to stay that way and eventually, it becomes the status quo. I think the time to act on questioning everyday practices is now.
A friend recommended this course to me, and I am grateful it is being offered. This is the kind of valuable information missing from the textbooks in public schools! I wish they would include more insight and true facts like these videos have shown.
I was especially taken aback by the history of the speculum and pap smear. To put a woman through that repeatedly and not treat young men with syphilis in the United States at such a late time in history...it is right up there with Nazi torture experiments in my book. My question is, why did this division of races need to happen at all? My guess is insecurities. I hate that the order of events in life would change because of someone else feeling insecure about a difference in skin color! It's LITERALLY melanin! We are all people, and it just pains me to see this argument continuing to need attention in 2020. My hope is to feel more comfort in speaking up about microaggressions or blatant racism by being more informed. As a white woman raised in a white family, the "treat everyone equal" talk that I got is not enough. Judgments that no one talks about or implications of racism that were discussed in this module need to be flat out addressed and changes need to be advocated for.