"Fresh" class

The guest speakers that we have just keep getting better and better! Beyond the fascinating vocabulary and anecdotes offered by Dr. Gunson, it was great to see that being a female was not a serious impediment to being in her profession. She crusaded through discrimination in medical school, but gender does not seem to be much of issue in pathology because the men she works with her would rather she do the cutting of bodies than them. Her expertise is respected, as it should be. People should be valued for their skills, not judged based upon their gender. That said, the idea of "decomp season" made me shiver, even as it made me grin. I wish we could tour the state facilities; I want to see what an autopsy room worthy of "morgue envy" looks like!
As for the episodes, it was a little bizarre to watch the "Chameleon" episode again after I wrote about it. There is a lot more in that episode than just prostitution, but after studying this issue I am especially sensitive to how prostitutes are portrayed in the media. The stigmatization of prostitutes is so normalized that many of us don't realize it. However, I feel that there must be some change in the way that these women are treated, for their health and to foster a sense of more societal understanding. I liked Professor Shaw's idea for decriminalization. Prostitutes are neither perennial victims or mere workers, but real women who make economic decisions based on situations that may have made selling sex the only available option for income. We should not punish them the women for society's problems, but we should also strive to change the system that forces some women to see this as the only way to make a living. Let's heal the wound instead of applying little band aids to the inequalities of society.
The episode we watched over the weekend ("Subterranean Homeboy Blues") was particularly difficult for me. It presented the ideas of sexism and racism as parallel, but not overlapping, issues. This made the characters have to choose which cause to support, which is not right. We should fight for a universally open and safe society; this does not mean that any group should have to wait while the other is advocating for limited progress. We should all act together for a more inclusive future. I especially felt for Robinette, who seemed to have a lot of problems with reconciling his sympathies for the black boys accused of the crime and the plight of the woman who was terrified due to past sexual assault. Before this class I didn't realize the real conundrums that some of these episodes offer. There is no right answer, the system can only do the best that it can.