Reading Audre Lorde's cancer journal excerpts was truly awakening and touching. I want to be a plastic surgeon, so I am all for listening to medical advice and science and everything, but I truly admired the way she questioned her doctors' recommendations. This reading really touched me because I lost my mother to cancer when I was 11. Even though I am a strong advocate for medicine, I often wonder if things would have come out differently if maybe my mother chose not to have surgery, or if she looked at all of her options before choosing surgery. I dont really remember if she did or not because I was so young, but this reading just makes me wonder. I was very disgusted when Audre Lorde wrote about the reaction of the nurse to Lorde not wanting to wear the fake breast, but before reading this article I probably would not have understood why she did not want to. I would have been thinking that the best thing to do after a masectomy is to want to feel like nothing ever happened, which would be by wearing a fake breast, but are breasts the only thing that makes a woman feel like a woman? That is an amazing point that I think a lot of people, especially heathcare workers fail to think about, but I think I understand there rationale.
As someone in the medical field, it is your job to perform procedures with the outcome that the patient will be able to lead a normal life as if nothing ever happened. What they fail to realize, though, is the sexism and ignorance that goes with assuming that breasts make a woman feel like a woman. I think if I was in Audre Lorde's position, and I had never taken a Women's Studies class, I would probably use the fake breast ( or because I have MORE then enough I would cut my remaining one in half and put in on the other side and still have a D cup ha), but because I have taken these courses, I think I would have the same mindset as her. I just really admire the way she challenged the norm, and used her life changing experience to show how strong she is, and how her breasts do not make her a woman. I know that because I am a Women's Studies major, I will be more sensitive to issues like this when taking care of my patients.
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"you make me feel like a NATURAL woman!!!!!!!!!"
This is ridiculous and I definitely agree with your last paragraph especially. Its funny how you can gain so much consciousness in the course of a year. I almost fear for my life without it simply because I would be subjecting myself to that of the "norms" agenda thinking that I was aiding in my personal development. It saddened me to read that as I realized how often a woman's pain is so trivalized and overlooked. Compensation for what...to make others feel comfortable right???
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