4 Inclusivity of Gynecology and Obstetrics: An Exploration of the Past and Prese
4 Inclusivity of Gynecology and Obstetrics: An Exploration of the Past and Present Exploitation of Marginalized people, and how the US Medical System Continues to Uphold Systems of Oppression
Sophia Thomson
Present-Day Medical Inequalities within the Fields of Obstetrics and Gynecology:
Obstetrics and Gynecology within the United States are known for having extremely disproportionate mortality rates based on race, with Black women being more than three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related complication than White women.[1] Prominent factors that drive this statistic are stereotypes of Black women having abnormally high pain tolerances, Black women experiencing more over-medicalized births in the form of unnecessary cesarean sections, and medical paternalism, mainly directed towards marginalized people.[2] Healthcare accessibility within the United States, particularly reproductive healthcare, is a frequently debated topic, especially after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. Beyond reproductive care in the form of accessible abortions, however, is the reality of how different people are treated within the fields of gynecology and obstetrics. The disproportionate statistics and mistreatment of Black women within medical spaces are created and fueled by the legacy of the exploitation of Black enslaved women, which created the field of gynecology. Surgeries done upon enslaved women without the use of anesthetics enabled White physicians to gain a large amount of information on the human body without being held accountable for mistakes or worrying too much about ethics under the belief that Black women were “less” than human.[3] Persisting health inequalities in the modern world were created and are continually informed by the historical context in which women of color were seen as subhuman, which allowed exploitation and continual mistreatment to be justified.
Another common form of medical abuse is non-consensual surgery on intersex infants to make them more closely fit into the constructed binary of biological sex.[4] Historical and contemporary exploitation of intersex individuals is essentially what created the basis upon which modern trans medicine was built. Intersex and transgender people are another category of people who are considered less than human, due to their expressions of biological sex and gender being seen as abnormal and defined as deviant. Their lived experiences are too frequently overwritten or ignored, intended to be made invisible. Meanwhile, the current language surrounding obstetrics and gynecology favors gendered terms such as women’s health or maternal health, which overlooks the necessity of the same care for those whose gender identities don’t match their sexes assigned at birth, implying that they do not deserve care due to being defined as deviant. Both Transgender and Black women are not considered to be “real” women within society at large, with trans women’s identities being wholly invalid