Stereotypes: Latinas Tested For Chlamydia More Than Whites

From the “there’s no such thing as racism why do you have to make everything about race” school of thought, a report that Latinas and African-American women are much more likely to be tested for chlamydia than white women. Here’s a classic example of how stereotyping and racism in the medical community concretely affects their patients, you know, real people like you and me.

The Los Angeles Times reported:

The study included 40,000 young women ages 14 to 25…More black and Hispanic young women were tested for chlamydia compared with white young women — the numbers were 65%, 72% and 45%, respectively. Black young women were 2.7 times as likely and Hispanic women were 9.7 times as likely to be screened for the diseased as their white counterparts…Young women with public and public pending insurance had a better chance of getting screened for chlamydia than those who were privately insured. When researchers looked at screenings based on public or private insurance status only, they found that young black and Hispanic women still had a greater chance of being screened than young white women.

The gist of it is this: If you’re poor and not white, medical providers are more likely to think you’re a cochina with chlamydia, thus, recommend to be tested. I’m not against STD testing, I think everyone should be tested as often as they can or should be, but this is a pretty clear example of prejudice making its way from the minds of those in the medical establishment into the real world in ways that tangibly affect people whose access to healthcare may be limited to begin with.

So, at least one of the lessons here is, feel free to question the authority of your healthcare provider because everything they recommend is plainly not always objective.