Essay 2 Image & secondary sources, Fall 2021 by Professor Diana Paulin https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko What it is, what it means and why it matters en-us 2021-11-03 18:02:44 UTC 2025-10-15 17:15:40 UTC hello@padlet.com hattiewags https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1873532346 The image I selected is a page taken from a 1955 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. It pairs text with illustrations in order to convey selected "inspiring" facts about fat to encourage people to lose weight for the summer; however, in reality, the article is not productive and is simply perpetuating a fat-phobic mindset. It establishes a negative perception of people who are fat by saying that they "bulge where we wish they wouldn't." Also, language describing fat people in the article, such as "sagging" or "relaxed" is in direct opposition to words like "fabulous" and "slim" which are used in reference to skinny people.
The idea of having to lose weight to fit society's standards is damaging and is being pushed on people at younger and younger ages.  Because of this, in today's age, being called fat can be considered an insult. Jessica Murray explains in her article that there is a dire need to reclaim the word fat and use it merely as a descriptor with no underlying connotations.
The 'ideal' body size varies around the world. While thinner women are put on a pedestal in the United States, this doesn't hold true everywhere. In a study done by Derek Tuoyire, it was found that Ghanian women will choose the ideal body as one a little larger than the normal, or in other words, “not too skinny, but not too fat."
The article exemplifies the idea of making people change their bodies to fit the standards of society. This is shown by the fact it doesn't mention a single health benefit of losing weight and instead focuses on becoming skinner to look good in a bathing suit. Messages like this are dangerous as they don't take into account the fact that having a healthy weight looks different on everyone.

Tuoyire, Derek. “Perceived Ideal Body Size of Ghanaian Women: ‘Not Too Skinny, but Not Too Fat.’” Taylor & Francis, 12 May 2017, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03630242.2017.1321607.

Murray, Jessica. “The Casual Cruelty of Fat Phobia: An Intersectional Analysis of ‘Unruly’ Feminine Corporeality in Selected Texts by Anne Tyler.” Taylor & Francis, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10131752.2020.1741863.

"The Plump and the Padded: BATHING SUITS and Shorts are Sinister Summer Traps for Figures that Bulge Where we Wish they Wouldn't. Other Traps Lie in Wait for Plump and Padded Folk Who Want to Lose Fat without Going on a Reducing Diet, Or Who Think no Diet can Work for them because they Hardly Eat enough to Keep a Bird Alive. here are a Few Inspiring Facts about Fat Taken from the New Better Homes Gardens Diet Book. just Look them Over, and they may Lead to some Sprightly Changes in Your Weigh of Life." Better Homes and Gardens 06 1955: 41,42, 44. ProQuest. Web. 7 Nov. 2021 .]]> 2021-11-07 23:57:15 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1873532346 Silence = Death | Keith Haring daniellenois https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1873762308 This painting by Keith Haring depicts a group of people, all variations of the three wise monkeys’ poses, with a pink triangle overlaying them. The pink triangle has cultural significance in the LGBTQ+ community, as gay people persecuted by the Nazis were forced to wear inverted pink triangles. Comparable to the yellow Star of David, those with ‘die Rosa-Winkel’ were at the bottom of the concentration camp’s hierarchy (Waxman). Modern adornment of the pink triangle symbolizes a pledge that this history of homophobic oppression will not repeat itself.

Keith Haring painted this in 1989 during the AIDS pandemic—a major issue that the LGBTQ+ community was facing (and still faces) to this day. Despite thousands of Americans dying, the government still remained silent and a promise for a vaccine was absent (Fitzsimons). With the election of Ronald Reagan (a Moral Majority ally), the issue declined even more. As a result, the people in the three wise monkeys' poses symbolize the ignorance of the American government and public. Through this image, Haring begs the audience to finally speak out the hundreds of thousands dead from AIDS, as the queer community’s lives depend on it. 
 
Fitzsimons, Tim. “LGBTQ History Month: The Early Days of America's AIDS Crisis.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 15 Oct. 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbtq-history-month-early-days-america-s-aids-crisis-n919701. 

Haring, Keith. Silence = Death. 1989. Accessed 7 Nov. 2021. 

Waxman, Olivia B. “How Nazi Pink Triangles Symbol Was Reclaimed for LGBT Pride.” Time, Time, 31 May 2018, https://time.com/5295476/gay-pride-pink-triangle-history/. 
]]> 2021-11-08 01:56:12 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1873762308 jennicacam https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876133378 In this image, there is a black woman with a band-aid over her mouth. The band aid is tan, and it clearly does not match her skin tone. This is representative of a larger issue in healthcare that black women face: racism. However, the band aid serves as a visual representation that healthcare is not geared towards treating black women. In fact, seeking medical care can be more harmful and potentially lethal for black women. Since the band aid is over her mouth, it appears to be silencing her so that she cannot speak up and advocate for herself. Even though she is unable to speak, we can infer by her facial expression that she is skeptical and displeased with the care or lack thereof that she is receiving. Overall, this image illustrates that racial bias in medical care, especially towards black women, puts their lives at risk every day as they are often unseen, unheard, and misdiagnosed. 
 

Sources: 
Elo, Irma T., et al. “The Contribution of Health Care and Other Interventions to Black-White Disparities in Life Expectancy, 1980-2007.” Population Research and Policy Review, vol. 33, no. 1, [Springer, Southern Demographic Association], 2014, pp. 97–126, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43672155.
 
Kimberly R. Jacob Arriola, et al. “The Health Status of Black Women: Breaking through the Glass Ceiling.” Black Women, Gender + Families, vol. 1, no. 2, University of Illinois Press, 2007, pp. 1–23, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/blacwomegendfami.1.2.0001.
 
Stallings, Erika. “This Is How the American Healthcare System Is Failing Black Women.” Oprah Daily, 1 Aug. 2018, https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/health/a23100351/racial-bias-in-healthcare-black-women/. 
 
Stauffer, Brian. “Unknown.” Oprah Daily. 1 Aug. 2018, https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/health/a23100351/racial-bias-in-healthcare-black-women/. 
 
 
 
 
]]> 2021-11-08 19:22:40 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876133378 theresastrouse https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876410433 The image I selected is an editorial cartoon by Rob Rogers published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2016. It features a prescription pill bottle with the text, "U.S. Opioid overprescription Warning: May Relieve More Than The Pain" with coffins coming out in place of pills. Over the past decade, the opioid crisis in the United States has become a growing problem, to the point where it is now considered an epidemic. Like with any disease it can be traced back to its roots, with opioids a large part of it comes from the, often well-intended, over-prescription of opioids for pain management. The other part of the aggressive and sometimes fraudulent marketing by pharmaceutical manufacturers. These are both very heavily influenced though by the U.S. health care system and especially through one's socio-economic status and culture (DeWeerdt).

The opioid epidemic is a central point in chronic pain and vise versa. Chronic pain can be extremely debilitating and with limited therapeutic alternatives, a patient's only choice can quickly become opioids. This though in turn easily creates an overdependence on opioid medications, this can all be associated with an alarming increase in addiction (Volkow). With a lack of better, less addictive alternative treatment methods it becomes extremely tricky for both doctors and patients. On both sides, the goal is for less overall pain but how can one achieve that goal by staying away from opioids or without creating a dependency on them. This again is heavily dependent on one's socio-economic status, what kind of resources are accessible to them, and also background and culture, some people are more susceptible to addiction than others.


DeWeerdt, Sarah. "Tracing the US opioid crisis to its roots." Nature 573.7773 (2019): S10-S10.

Rogers, Rob. Opioids. 2016, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Volkow, Nora D., and A. Thomas McLellan. "Opioid abuse in chronic pain—misconceptions and mitigation strategies." New England Journal of Medicine 374.13 (2016): 1253-1263]]> 2021-11-08 21:32:15 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876410433 https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876469397 This is an image that I selected from an article about how mental health is address or not address in Asian communities. We see three people who have their hands covering either their eyes, ears, or mouth. Because mental health is both somehow addressed and not addressed in Asian communities, this image captures the concept well. The first person is covering their eyes, perhaps to indicate the aspects of mental health that are completely denied. The second person is covering their ears, perhaps to indicate the aspects of mental health that are seen but not acknowledged. And the third person is covering their mouth, perhaps to indicate that mental health and aspects of mental health are not to be talked about. The denial of mental health in Asian communities is detrimental to millions and millions of human beings who will have to live lives under this hyper-negative cultural view. It is this cultural view that is the driving factor to the lack of awareness understanding, and acceptance of mental health. In the article that this photo was pulled from, an Asian-Canadian who grew up in Canada with two Asian parents, experienced mental health issues. She writes and explains the progression of their relationship from her parents point of complete omission of acknowledgement of mental health to the understanding that they may not understand what mental health is, but they understand that she is struggling and needs help. She also acknowledges that she struggled before to understand why her parents could not empathize with her mental health, but can now step back and realize that her parents wanted the best for her, except they grew up in a different time. It is this phenomenon that I too struggled with and it is a phenomenon that needs to be addressed.

Special IssueSheena Macmillan — Published April 10, 2020, et al. “How Mental Health Is (or Isn't) Handled in Asian Communities: Special Issue.” The Link, Sheena Macmillan, 10 Apr. 2020, thelinknewspaper.ca/article/how-mental-health-is-or-isnt-handled-in-asian-communities.

Hsu, Hua, and Michael Luo. “The Stories We Tell, and Don't Tell, about Asian-American Lives.” The New Yorker, 17 July 2019, www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-stories-we-tell-and-dont-tell-about-asian-american-lives. 

Hua, Xin. “Chinese Mental Health Services Falling Short: Report.” China Plus, China Plus, 25 Feb. 2019, chinaplus.cri.cn/news/china/9/20190225/253543.html. 

Tanap, Ryann. “Why Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders Don't Go to Therapy.” NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness , 25 July 2019, www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/July-2019/Why-Asian-Americans-and-Pacific-Islanders-Don-t-go-to-Therapy. 
]]> 2021-11-08 22:04:55 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876469397 https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876569992 This image I selected is sourced from a post on website of USC's School of Pharmacy that explains the aspects that define socio-economic inequality in healthcare. The image depicts a pyramid that has two very uneven sides. On the lefthand side, the pyramid is jagged and almost impossible to climb upon, while on the righthand side it is smooth and even. four people are trying to climb to the pyramid, however two are faced with the heavy task of climbing the jagged side while two are coasting on the even side. This image is meant to represent the inequalities that present themselves within healthcare, and the hardships so many are faced with in order to have the same opportunities as people with higher income rates. The image dives deeper on the subject by showing one of the individuals climbing the jagged side holding what appears to be an alcoholic beverage, indicating the negative add ons associated with having the short end of the stick. This image represents the importance of healthcare disparities which affects every person in America as well as all over the world.


Hedt, Stephanie. “Money Only Explains Part of the Inequity. This Post Explains a Number of Additional Assumptions and New Findings.” USC Schaeffer, 5 Apr. 2016, https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/shutterstock_282585773-1024x889.jpg.

Galama, Titus. “What Explains Socio-Economic Inequality in Health?” USC Schaeffer, 23 Oct. 2019, https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/evidence-base/what-explains-socio-economic-inequality-in-health/.

Sciences, National Academies of, et al. “The Root Causes of Health Inequity.” Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Jan. 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425845/. ]]> 2021-11-08 23:17:26 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876569992 Access to health care and women's health SamiyaMehammed https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876582464 This image was taken from an article in a website named The Commonwealth Fund.  The gap between the women seated and the health professional, ambulance, and red cross symbolizes the inaccessibility of healthcare to women in the United States. There is also a distance between the seated women and the money on her side, this also represents the limited healthcare availability to low income women.When it comes to getting primary health care, women face distinct hurdles. Women in the United States have worse outcomes than women in other high-income countries, according to research by the Commonwealth Fund. The maternal mortality rate in the United States, for example, is higher than in any other high-income country and continues to grow. Women are also segregated based on their financial, racial, and educational backgrounds. Regardless of their income level, people of color typically receive lower-quality healthcare. In other cases, women in the top 1% of the income distribution have a life expectancy of ten years longer than women in the bottom 1% of the income distribution. Inadequate education about healthcare can also hold back women from getting access to a good quality healthcare.


Johnston, Richard B. “Poor Education Predicts Poor Health - a Challenge Unmet by American Medicine.” National Academy of Medicine, 2 Sept. 2020, https://nam.edu/poor-education-predicts-poor-health-a-challenge-unmet-by-american-medicine/. 


“Transforming Primary Health Care for Women - Part 1: A Framework for Addressing Gaps and Barriers.” Transforming Primary Health Care for Women, Part 1: A Framework | Commonwealth Fund, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2020/jul/transforming-primary-health-care-women-part-1-framework. 





]]> 2021-11-08 23:27:06 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876582464 Body Standards and Trends gracesullivan8 https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876626696 Color-blocky figures in this image represent diverse women. Their body shapes and external features are varied enough to suggest a wide range of shapes, races, heights, etc.  Above each figure is a comment critiquing their physical appearance. Each critique is simple and directly tied to the representation of the figure. Ex. The tallest figure is criticized for being tall and the fairest figure is criticized for her paleness. The figures represent a small variation of women. Each criticism above them is intended to target a specific group of women and the body standards enforced upon them. The image is powerful because it causes the viewer to question the beauty standards imposed on them and on other women. 
The image matters because it forces the viewer to examine beauty standards from an external perspective. The image calls into question how beauty standards apply to us and how they apply to others in our lives. Contemplating the influence of body standards (and how impossibly fickle they are) is important because they impact daily interactions, influence psychological and medical trends, and represent trends in society.


“History of the Always Changing Female Beauty Standards.” Art of Andreas Avester, 29 Apr. 2019, https://andreasavester.com/history-of-the-always-changing-female-beauty-standards/.·   
Sicardi, Arabelle. “The Ugly Truth.” Grow by Ginkgo, 4 Dec. 2020, https://www.growbyginkgo.com/2020/12/04/the-ugly-truth/.
Unable to Cite Image, and will request librarian assistance.
]]> 2021-11-08 23:57:01 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876626696 rhillenbrand13 https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876690881
The principal purpose of this image is to depict the influences of mental health and the overall impact it has on a human. Mental health consumes an individual until it is essentially all they are capable of thinking about. This image encompasses that exact process and illustrates all of the concepts one thinks about when struggling. This specific image was generated to showcase mental health during the pandemic. The pandemic negatively affected many people and led many to lose their jobs or work from home, making people feel both worthless and isolated. This combination of feelings added to the growing mental health issues and adds to previous mental health issues that were prevalent prior to the pandemic. Overall, the pandemic placed a massive burden on areas and communities already facing mental health issues and depicted the problems present within the mental health system. 



Panchal, Narmita, et al. “The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use.” Kaiser Family Foundation, 10 Feb. 2021, https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/. 


Doraiswamy, P. Murali, et al. “How the Pandemic Is Changing Mental Health.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 14 Sept. 2021, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-pandemic-is-changing-mental-health/. 

“Mental Health During a Pandemic.” Westchester County Association, 24 Feb. 2021, https://www.westchester.org/events/mental-health-in-a-pandemic/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.

“How to Manage Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Care Hospitals, 11 Nov. 2020, https://www.carehospitals.com/how-to-manage-mental-health-during-covid-19-pandemic/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021. 

]]> 2021-11-09 00:33:00 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876690881 Balancing the tolls of experimental drugs with holistic medicine adunster1 https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876735497 The image I selected is an abstract expression by Obi-Tabot Tate that I sourced from Fine Art America. It features a woman, sulking and blue while surrounded by the colorful depictions of chemicals and the coronavirus. Over time as medicine becomes increasingly more advanced, especially with the presence of COVID-19, experimental drugs become more prevalent in today’s world of allopathic medicine. When new, long-awaited drugs open up to those eligible, suffering people are often eager to seek treatment even when minimal studies back the drug. This excitement and fresh view of hope can sometimes lead to anxiety and discouragement if the drug is concluded to be harmful or ineffective after more studies have been done. Like any instance that causes stress and discouragement, one loses a form of trust. In this case, it is not uncommon to see those in clinical trials or taking experimental drugs lose faith in medicine and have trouble finding positive outcomes with their treatment. Even though the fate of medicine does not necessarily lie within our own hands, this image depicts that we can determine our trust in medicine. To do so, we can explore multiple forms of treatment in both allopathic and alternative realms to heal our minds, bodies, and spirits. While holistically healing our bodies, we can relieve some of our tension and continue to put our health and safety into the doctor’s hands. 

“Hydroxychloroquine - The Covid-19 Debacle by Obi-Tabot Tabe.” Fine Art America, https://fineartamerica.com/featured/hydroxychloroquine-the-covid-19-debacle-obi-tabot-tabe.html. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021. 

Chermaine. “Strictly Business!!!!!: SAY NO TO DRUGS.” Strictly Business!!!!!, 26 Sept. 2011, http://cherfolio.blogspot.com/2011/09/say-no-to-drugs.html.

“Anti-Vaxxers Lack Trust. Here’s Why.” Undark Magazine, 24 Apr. 2019, https://undark.org/2019/04/24/anti-vaxxers-vaccines-trust-big-pharma/.


]]> 2021-11-09 00:52:19 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1876735497 Colorism and its beauty standards https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1877220987 The image that I chose depicts a young, black woman who has been affected by the judgement of others in the United States. The young woman appears to be in a crisis, in which she doesn't know what to do with herself. Her facial expression is a solid, cold look while everything else around her appears to have changed while have been divided by an imaginary line to depict her new differences. It can be inferred that the young, black woman in the image is attempting to please those around her while being conflicted by everyone else's thoughts and comments. This image represent the effects of society among young teens and how common this social issue occurs. Although a young woman is depicted, men also go under these stressful situations... The image matters because as children grow into their teenage years and soon after their adulthood, they go through many changes because of the standards society holds and expects from them. People for the longest held onto the belief that the lighter your skin color was, the more attractive you were. If you had blue or green eyes, your eyes were considered "beautiful" and so on. Taking everything into account, the importance of this picture is that it projects the negative effects of societal standards on the human population.

Samad, Tima. Beauty Standards. 7 Feb. 2016.

The Impact of Colourism on Beauty Standards - The Boar. https://theboar.org/2021/02/the-impact-of-colourism-on-beauty-standards/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

Colorism Is Real and It Must Stop. https://magdalene.co/story/colorism-is-real-and-it-must-stop. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.]]> 2021-11-09 04:32:01 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/ayz8pm3hxp9pkyko/wish/1877220987