#Thread If you thought “critical social justice” (as @ConceptualJames calls it) was going to take a break during (or better yet, become a fatality of) the #coronavirus #COVIDー19 outbreak, think again:
At @Independent after arguing that gender specific vaccines are needed, the author expresses skepticism that this will happen because,
“To date, our understanding of health has developed through a male lens, based on studies of men, carried out by men.”independent.co.uk/voices/coronav…
“To date, our understanding of health has developed through a male lens, based on studies of men, carried out by men.”independent.co.uk/voices/coronav…
For the “male lens” reference, he cites: independent.co.uk/voices/womens-…
He goes on, “From cancer to coronavirus, there isn’t an area of health research or science more broadly that isn’t gender blind. Science, it seems, is institutionally sexist.” With the result that,
“Despite all the talk of equality and sexism, we are still in a position where we know far more about the health of men than women, even though women make up 50 per cent of the population.” (Per usual, a disparity is cited as per se proof of the alleged bias/inequality)
So we need more women in medical trials, more women in research roles (because men monopolize these) just like corporations have sought to tackle the “gender imbalance” independent.co.uk/life-style/wom…
Because, “It doesn’t matter how intelligent or aware a senior man in such a position is, they can never fully understand a woman’s health or experience of a health intervention.” Adding women to the ranks will combat “male-oriented treatments”
Challenge female “subservience”, status quo, and systemic sexism to which male-oriented research, scholarly perspectives, and treatments contribute, which is “morally wrong”
More: because of our inegalitarian norms of childcare, the #coronavirus puts more stress on women (but also more stress on them since they dominate the jobs on “the front lines”) bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
But advocates “hope this global health crisis will result in a more even distribution of professional and domestic caretaking” and fracture existing systemic inequalities:
“The coronavirus crisis is an opportunity to challenge entrenched social dynamics in a way that benefits both women and men.”
Much of this is echoed in another gem from @TheLancet thelancet.com/journals/lance…
And btw, doctors are being taught to think this way: medicine.yale.edu/news/cedar/soc…
as everyone saw yesterday, Stephen King gets it! (he’s even abandoned a single-axis view of oppression! #progress):
tl;dr version:
Also see generally: areomagazine.com/2020/02/12/how…
Now let’s do race: the #COVIDー19 outbreak is really just a vehicle for renewed commentary on “occupational segregation” and “voter suppression” (the latter of which @AOC accused her own party the other day): newsone.com/3911611/corona…
And don’t forget...
Just to keep the thread going:
Equity!!! kuow.org/stories/costco…
gender, race, now climate
news.trust.org/item/202003190…
news.trust.org/item/202003190…
this is the key move that keeps being made:
"policy responses must address the social determinants that threaten to exacerbate the health, financial, and social impacts of a public health emergency on low-income communities, communities of color...
"policy responses must address the social determinants that threaten to exacerbate the health, financial, and social impacts of a public health emergency on low-income communities, communities of color...
and other socially subordinated groups... because emergencies typically exacerbate long-standing and interconnected crises in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, legal and policy responses must address root problems in addition to immediate needs."
this is how the things they really want to get on about are pulled back in, viz, your #COVID19 response will never be effective (or will be oppressive) if it doesn't factor in the "root problems" we were yelling about beforehand healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hbl…
again, the pandemic is just the occasion for the *real work*: "the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of ensuring that all members of society have the ability to benefit from and comply with public health measures...
"Unless, and until, federal, state, and local government dedicate the resources necessary to comprehensively address the root causes of poor health and poverty, health justice will remain unattainable, harming every member of our society. " healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hbl…
and at all times, policy makers should have their handy CRT Decision Making Tool Kit (courtesy of Portland Community College Office of Equity & Inclusion) on hand to ensure optimal divestiture of whiteness & dismantling of hegemonic oppression pcc.edu/about/equity-i…
and whilst the pandemic may be harmful in the first instance, vis a vis the *real* work, its is helpful in disrupting ideological (&linguistic) hegemony: vox.com/2020/2/7/21126…
combating "outbreak narratives": thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2020/0…
"[epidemic] narratives demonstrated the influence of power in whose narratives and what narratives are presented in the literature. While marginalized populations were reported to have borne the brunt of all disease outbreaks in the different contexts...
the prevalence of their narratives within the reviewed literature was limited. The experiences and narratives of those most vulnerable to an epidemic... need to be represented... This could contribute to mitigating some of the negative impact of the politics in epidemics."
