I have been thinking about establishing a feminist medicine blog for some time now. I am in love with my work as a physician, and one of the things I love the most is the opportunity to empower my patient, making shared decisions with them, and strengthen their sense of autonomy. You know, being a feminist.
When we go to the doctor, we do not always get the information or the treatment we hoped to get. The reasons are many: some are due to the system’s lack of resources; Some are related to the personal set of values of the healthcare provider; And some depend on the patient, who does not always know what to ask, or how to explain their concerns. But most of the time? Most of the time it’s the combination of all these.
In such a case, some of us go looking for other sources of information: friends, family, books, websites and social networks. Free access to the Internet is a great thing, and makes it possible to reduce social and health disparities. But alongside its advantages, lay significant disadvantages, such as unsupervised and inaccurate information, information tainted by foreign interests, or the assumptions rooted in thousands of years of patriarchy.
So I think we deserve a space of feminist medicine. A source of reliable and interest-free information. A place to deal with the health of groups that have been pushed out of hegemony, including women, LGBTQ+, ethnic minorities, obese and overweight women, women with disabilities, elderly women and more.
And if you’re also in need for such a place – you just found it here.
Wishing us equal health,
Dr. Lior Baruch
HealthyHer
