Course

RELG 203: Womanist Christian Ethics

Document Type

Student Paper

Publication Date

Summer 2021

Disciplines

African American Studies | Ethics in Religion | Medical Education | Religion | Women's Studies

Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement

This paper examines race and gender inequities in healthcare as it pertains to the unequal presentation of descriptors of illness in medical textbooks. The author adopts a womanist perspective to criticize the use of the white male body as the standard for all patients, which causes signs and symptoms in women and people of color to be dismissed as less important. Following an analysis of normalizing language in current medical texts as well as its consequences for patients, the author calls for a system-wide shift to more inclusive, intersectional medical education that not only acknowledges differences among patient groups, but also places diversity in equal conversation with the presumed norm.