Representation in the Medical Community
In Ariana Smit’s blog post, “Healing my PCOS does not mean conforming to your ideal feminine body”, she discusses the highly apparent beauty ideals for women and how she chooses to engage with the idea of “femininity.” The author explains her medical struggles with PCOS and the obstacles she has faced within the medical community based on the lack of representation women who do not conform to the stereotypical notions of femininity. When Smit explains how there are very few platforms for women like her within the medical community, this reminded me of when we discussed symbolic annihilation in the media. However, I think what Smit’s is experiencing is a step further and could be a cause from symbolic annihilation and is the material effects of what happens when communities are not representing. Reading about this women’s rejection of femininity ideals in the medical sphere and the lack of inclusion she has experienced by her doctors/peers helped me see the immense material effects of when a community is not included in media representations.
I agree with your point about how this issue goes beyond symbolic annihilation because there are so many other complexities within this issue that do not get attention by the media. I think an added layer to this representation problem is the fact that medical issues rarely get represented in the media at all. People who are living with chronic illnesses and conditions face so many obstacles and are rarely represented in a fair and accurate way.
ReplyDeleteYeah as someone diagnosed with PCOS, it definitely took awhile to figure out how I personally go through the changes Smit mentions when I just wanted to accept myself. Especially body hair, media really does not represent women with hair beyond their head and when media does portray women with armpit hair it's usually seen as an oddity or an old feminist stereotype. The fact is, PCOS is a pretty common condition and body hair is super normal. However media constructions of what an AFAB body looks like has massively objectified and fictionalized what society deems to be normal.
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