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The Internet is abuzz because actress Halle Berry shared a story of a herpes scare during a fireside chat with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. When, in fact, the actress was entering perimenopause. On the surface, it seems crazy, right? In reality, it isn’t.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Berry recalled having extreme pain after sex and going to the doctor, who told her she had the worst case of herpes he’d ever seen. She and Hunt were both tested, and neither ended up having herpes and “I realized after the fact that is a symptom of perimenopause” due to dryness. While this led Berry to become an advocate for menopause, it reminds us how medical and structural racism impacts our care.
If you think about what has happened to Black women in the last week, it is sobering—the loss of Beauty YouTuber Jessica Pettway. Yesterday, former Kansas City Chief cheerleader Krystal Anderson died after giving birth to a stillborn child from sepsis.
This is not our imagination; two books examine its toll on our lives. Linda Villarosa’s Under The Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America is a sweeping examination of what it has cost us. Uché Blackstock’s Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine is told from a personal perspective.
Check out these books to understand how structural racism may impact care and how you must advocate for yourself.
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