Author: volant.4

Text Review – Beautiful/Anonymous

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“Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People” is a podcast hosted by actor/comedian Chris Gethard. Where each week he gets a random caller, usually from the United States, and they discuss their life, or a certain aspect of their life, anonymously, with him for one hour. In a particular episode, released October 20, 2020, Chris received a caller that discussed his difficulties between his relationship with his partner and his parents. He focused on two issues: same-sex relationships and interracial relationships. He began by telling Chris that he came out to his parents over two decades prior. And because of religious backgrounds (specifically southern baptism), conservative beliefs, and the caller’s preference for interracial relationships, his family refused to accept his sexual identity. The most predominant reason aside from the entirety of being in a same-sex relationship was the fact that the caller’s African American and his partner’s white. Stating that, “There is no man I can bring home that my parents would be excited about but the interracial factor is one-hundred percent a secondary issue”…“they have trust issues having been born from all manners of mistreatments, all manners of racism”. He expresses his parent’s difficulty accepting other cultures, specifically white culture because they grew up in the “Jim Crow South”.

Shortly after the caller talked about his parent’s troubles with trust, Chris stated that “as soon as you said they had a problem with an interracial relationship, in my mind I go, “oh these are closed-minded white people”. But then you go “oh wait, that can go in all directions, any direction”. Effectively making the connection that the caller’s family isn’t white, they’re African American. This thought went very well with Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” where there were so many aspects to the two women’s lives from relationships, class, being an outcast, and so much more; yet the factors don’t necessarily help in determining the race of those two individuals. Almost as if it didn’t matter because both cultures can intertwine. Thus making it important to acknowledge that these kinds of stereotypes and othering can go, as Chris said “in any direction”. 

Looking further, the title of the podcast’s episode, “Get Out (Of The Closet)”, is a direct innuendo to the movie “Get Out”. The caller used this movie to discuss not only the problems in his life but also how many of the themes within the movie were oddly realistic, almost in a reverse way. He speaks about the differences between his family and his partner’s family’s reaction to their relationship through this movie; where he says that by being in an “all white space your guard is up [because] anything can happen, but nothing has happened”. Once again talking about how he could let his guard down, his partner’s parents could let their guards down, but his own family refused presumably due to a sort of othering.

Source:

Gethard, Chris. “Get Out (Of The Closet).” Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People from Earwolf Productions, 20 October 2020, https://www.earwolf.com/episode/get-out-of-the-closet/.

Diary of Systemic Injustice Showcase – Pain Bias

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 The idea of pain bias came after reading an article that listed comments from several women relaying their experiences with doctors when in immense pain. They discussed doctors belittling them or telling them they were lying about their pain. They also compared the handling of their pain with the men in their lives; one stated, “my then-husband had his vasectomy done eight weeks after my fourth baby. During 15 hours of labor, I had gas. For the excruciating pain after, I got OTC pain killers. For the raw, cracked bleeding nipples, I was told, ‘You know how it goes, they’ll toughen up in a couple of weeks (of breastfeeding).’ He was given Valium to take the night before, another one for that morning, and then pain relief for the duration of the five-minute procedure” (Vouloumanos).

Looking further I found extensive examples of these kinds of cases. As well as terms like “Yentl syndrome” which describes “what happens when women present to their doctors with symptoms that differ from men’s — they often get misdiagnosed, mistreated, or told the pain is all in their heads” (Vox). This isn’t just applicable in healthcare, but also the workplace. In a specific case, as described by Laura Kiesel in the article “Women and Pain: Disparities in Experience and Treatment”, a man named David Roberts released a story that discussed his many years of chronic pain. David’s story was redistributed, reposted, and obtained a great amount of sympathy even in the workplace where his boss took his story with “utmost seriousness” (Kiesel). Stories like this should be brought to light, and talked about greatly, but with both men and women alike. In situations like these women are essentially the subaltern, they have no voice, their experiences are overlooked, and their opinions, in comparison with a man, aren’t as serious or important. 

Women’s experiences with pain, like those described in the comments from those women in Vouloumanos’ article, should be made known. If women were heard, even just to make aware of sex discrepancies, then there could be more research and studies done to accommodate for these differences. For instance, Caroline Perez, in the Vox Media article, described a story she heard of someone’s mother dying “of a heart attack because she didn’t present with the ‘typical’ male symptoms.” (Vox).

Whether it’s in the workplace or healthcare this is a clear representation of systemic injustice because women are being ignored, refused appropriate medication, and given improper doses of medication. And the reasoning comes down to biases and societal norms that exhibit an overall preference for men. The impacts of this are substantial, less clearly than death, it’s also worth noting that pain is a very traumatizing experience, especially the kind of pain that comes from most of the procedures listed in these articles. To change this, healthcare professionals have to stop disregarding women’s pain for no other reason than “they didn’t think it would hurt” and women should get more media representation for these experiences to highlight persisting problems in healthcare.

Link to Related Social Media Thread:

A social media thread consisting of nearly two thousand comments from, about, or in response to female individuals who discuss their experiences after visiting the gynecologist.

“r/TwoXChromosomes – Why Are Many Gynecological Procedures Done without Pain Medicine?” Reddit, www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/comments/q470f1/why_are_many_gynecological_procedures_done/

 

Works Cited

“Everything Is Designed for This Man, Even Drugs.” YouTube, Vox, 18 Nov. 2019, https://youtu.be/CVdn-2KE2bs.

Kiesel, Laura. “Women and Pain: Disparities in Experience and Treatment.” Harvard Health, 9 Oct. 2017, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/women-and-pain-disparities-in-experience-and-treatment-2017100912562.

Samuel, Sigal. “Women Suffer Needless Pain Because Almost Everything Is Designed for Men.” Vox, Vox, 17 Apr. 2019, www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/17/18308466/invisible-women-pain-gender-data-gap-caroline-criado-perez.

Vouloumanos, Victoria. “Women Are Sharing Medical Procedures They’ve Had Without Anesthetics Or Pain Meds, And Why Is This So Normal.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 26 Oct. 2021, www.buzzfeed.com/victoriavouloumanos/gynecological-procedures-without-anesthetics-or-pain-meds.

Week 10 Context Presentation – Ko, The Leavers (1-150)

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The first half of Lisa Ko’s novel The Leavers centers around Deming and the disappearance of his mother, Polly. After his mother left, Deming was adopted by a white family and raised in a primarily white town in New York. Having lived in China with his grandfather between the ages of one and six, being the only Chinese boy in a predominately white school and town greatly affected his ability to form an identity. Deming, whose name was changed to Daniel, struggled to find a place of belonging. He was abandoned by his mother, Leon, and even Vivian; whether that was by choice or obligation. Deming was abruptly placed in a new environment, and a decade later, we discover the many obstacles he had to face. For instance, his addiction, his isolation from his Chinese culture, his adoptive parent’s rejection towards his desire to pursue music, his struggles in school, and his overall failure to establish a multicultural identity. 

Deming is an example of an individual who was made to feel more American than Chinese which ultimately caused him to separate his Chinese culture from his American one instead of consolidating the two. This wasn’t because he was ashamed, but rather because he couldn’t assimilate to the new environment in the way he was expected to. He didn’t have the necessary support or understanding he needed. For example, Peter suggested that non-Americans that wanted to feel represented and important meant feeling “coddled” and “entitled” (Ko 40). Through enveloping him in a new culture his parents, peers, and his other social interactions made him feel like he didn’t belong; that his Chinese culture lacked importance in comparison to his American culture.

This is prevalent among many immigrants today, where the struggle to form a multicultural identity is due to unrealistic expectations for assimilation. As described in the article Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate? there are three defined factors of assimilation. Adopting English as the national language, living to be self-reliant and hardworking, and taking pride and believing in the American identity/principles (Skerry). By learning and speaking English fluently and through his adoptive father berating him for not speaking English Deming lost much of his ability to speak the Fuzhou dialect. In his attempt to be hardworking and independent Deming took up gambling and dropped out of college. And finally, as seen by both Deming and Polly, “An immigrant has already left family, community, and state, moving and attempting to adapt to a new community and state (Simms). By forcing them to adapt to something new in an already emotionally and physically homeless state they had to break down their own culture to accommodate the new one. “Assimilating would require giving up the defining aspect of their cultural and individual identities” (Simms). 

 

Works Cited: 

Ko, Lisa. The Leavers a Novel. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2018.

Simms, Luma, et al. “Identity and Assimilation.” National Affairs, www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/identity-and-assimilation.

Skerry, Peter. “Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate?” Brookings, Brookings, 28 July 2016, www.brookings.edu/articles/do-we-really-want-immigrants-to-assimilate/.