Race, Gender, and the Medical Community

Have you ever heard of the name, Henrietta Lacks? Even if you have never hear of her, you, in some way, have benefited from her.

Her cells were part of research into the genes that cause cancer and those that suppress it; they helped develop drugs for treating herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson's disease; and they've been used to study lactose digestion, sexually transmitted diseases, appendicitis, human longevity, mosquito mating, and the negative cellular effects of working in sewers (Skloot, p. 4).

Henrietta Lack’s body was placed into the center of gene research, and through this exploitation of her body, her cervix, her cells, “the first immortal human cells ever grown in a laboratory,” were used to develop an infinite amount of medical technologies. For a long time, she remained invisible, and prior to the publication of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, she was no more than “a black woman” in a picture, who may or may not get mentioned in a classroom for a fleeting moment only to be erased “in one fast swipe” at the end of class. Her cells changed the medical world forever, yet neither she nor her family received the respect that the scientific community should be obliged to give. The medical professionals gave little to no respect to Henrietta as they took her cells, from her cervix, an extremely private and sacred part of the female body, without her knowledge or permission. There was no punishment for the theft of her cell tissue. Moreover, there was not only zero compensation for the cells that became the foundation of human cell research, but also there was no respect given to the person who unwillingly had her body claimed by other people for the gain of so many others with the exclusion of her or her family who knew nothing of the deception until much later.

This robbery is a blatant act of disrespect to a human being; it was not until after they had exploited her did anyone recognize her humanity. Not long after her death, the scientists, who had already stolen her cell tissue while she was alive, returned to collect more samples for their testing. In that moment, one of the scientists recognizes that their test subject is a real person. She explains to Skloot that she saw the shipped toenail polish and thought, “Oh jeez, she's a real person… it hit me for the first time that those cells we'd been working with all this time and sending all over the world, they came from a live woman. I'd never thought of it that way.” She was not considered a person, nor was she respected as human being. Many factors play into this, primarily her race and gender, because of the double jeopardy of being not only a woman but also a woman of color, a black woman. Medical professionals were able to take advantage of Henrietta Lacks because of her lack of social power as a woman. She was used for other people’s gain, even by women people of color; “black scientists and technicians, many of them women, used cells from a black woman to help save the lives of millions of Americans, most of them white. Furthermore, for the researchers, it was better to exploit a black woman than animals because “monkeys were expensive.” In other words, there was little care for the ethics of the situation because money is/was the main incentive and focus, and working on Henrietta Lacks, without her permission, was better because she was unknowing and free, where as monkeys were protected and costly. Leaving Henrietta powerless and voiceless.

In closing, the Lacks family, due to their race and the inequality between people of color and white people, did not have the social capital to access knowledge about medicine. And through this fundamental imbalance of power, white medical professionals were able to take advantage of black people. The scientific community took advantage of Henrietta Lack’s lower position in society as a black woman as well as her family for the gain of others.

Today, Henrietta Lacks is widely known as the “black woman whose body, they say, was exploited by white scientists.” In a perfect world, the Lacks family would receive monetary compensation for not only exploitation of Henrietta Lacks but also the invasion of the family’s privacy. However realistically, I highly doubt that the family will get compensation of that sort. If nothing else, the Lacks deserve respect and recognition for all that they have endured and what their family member has done for the field of medicine. In the words of Sunny Lacks, “I'm proud of my mother and what she done for science. I just hope Hopkins and some of the other folks who benefited off her cells will do something to honor her and make right with the family.”



Here's some helpful links for more information about the book and Henrietta Lacks.
http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/
https://youtu.be/1vow1ePzuqo
http://www.biography.com/people/henrietta-lacks-21366671

References
Brinker, Wendy. "James Marion Sims; Father Butcher by Wendy Brinker." James Marion Sims; Father Butcher by Wendy Brinker. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. <http://www.whale.to/a/brinker.html>.
Pappas, Stephanie. "7 Absolutely Evil Medical Experiments." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.
Spettel, Sara, and Mark Donald White. "The Portrayal of J. Marion Sims' Controversial Surgical Legacy." The Journal of Urology: 2424-427. Print.