The Women In The Photograph By Henrietta Lacks

Imagine having no rights in life. Imagine one day you get sick, and you go to the hospital to get better, but you get taken advantage of. How would all that make you feel? Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman. During her time, women didn’t have equal rights like men did, and African-Americans didn’t have equal rights like white people did. Since Henrietta was an African-American woman she had it rough, there were times that everyday tasks were a struggle. In 1951 she was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer. She was treated at John Hopkins University, where doctors didn’t do all they could even if they said that was the case, and were Doctor George Gey took her cells from her cervix without consent. I watched the Law and Order episode titled “Immortal”, I found it to be extremely similar to a book I read titled The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot even though the show said in the beginning that this was not based on a true story.

As further described by Skloot’s book, Henrietta Lacks was a beautiful woman with “walnut eyes, straight white teeth and full lips” also a wife, mother, and friend to everyone around her (Skloot 68). A few months after her last baby was born she saw abnormal bleeding in which she went to see a doctor. Her doctor found a lump inside her cervix, then he suggested to attend Johns Hopkins Hospital, since

Medical science has come a long way in the last 65 years. There have been many significant medical advances, including the development of the polio vaccine, the perfection of cell culturing techniques, the advent of medical commercialization, and progress towards understanding cancer and HIV. All of this -- and much, much more -- was made possible by one woman: Henrietta Lacks. She was an African American woman born in 1920, and by the time she died of cancer in 1951, she had made no direct contributions to the world of medicine. In fact, the thing that has since brought Henrietta’s name into the medical world was the very thing that ended up killing her. All of this was made possible by what doctors discovered inside of her tumor.

I must begin by stating that I am so glad the medical community has progressed since the time of Henrietta Lacks. It is reassuring to know that much greater progress has been made in treating patients correctly and informing them of what is happening. I am saddened that due to social stigma at that time, Henrietta Lacks was not afforded the same respect that perhaps another individual would have been given.

Henrietta Lacks is a vibrant woman who has been diagnosed with cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951. She undergoes a biopsy procedure and the tissues that are removed are examined and determined to be cancer. At the same time other doctors are testing her tissues to settle a difference of opinion between

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a story about a woman who sought treatment for cervical cancer at John Hopkins University in the 1950s. At the same time Ms. Lacks was receiving treatment for cancer at John Hopkins, researchers were exploring more effective means by which

Being physically attractive adds even more layers to the subjective mix. Is it blonde hair, fair skin blue eyes? Is it brown hair, dark eyes and a wonderfully tan physic the alpha trump card? Or could it be salt and pepper hair, emerald green eyes, and five o’clock shadow? See what I mean? This can

One’s perspective about such a controversial topic like beauty can be easily influenced by everyday situations. The theory of social comparison states, “women are negatively affected by constant exposure to models that fulfill the unrealistic media ideal of beauty”. Society has been corrupted by the negative messages portrayed in the media. As beauty continues to evolve the media and other social networks begin to introduce the concept of universal beauty. People continuously create an image and portray it as an ideal self.

There are no laws which prevent employers from selecting individuals who are more aesthetically attractive than those who are less aesthetically attractive unless the decision is based on age, race, color, gender or any part of the protected class. In fact, some employers believe there should laws which give employers more discretion on hiring based on physical appearance (James, 2008). Additionally, the concept of good first impressions is highly accepted. Individuals respond to this concept by making themselves more physically attractive. Corbett (2007) implies if we create laws which prevent discrimination based on features which individuals are born with, such as physical attractiveness, then perhaps follow-on laws will prevent discrimination based on other features such as intellect. This would not make sense, since intellect is another measure of quality in human capital (Corbett, 2007; Sinha & Thaly, 2013). Another issue from both a legal and ethical perspective is the ability to categorize physical attractiveness into something which can be defined objectively. Physical attractiveness can define someone who dresses well or someone who doesn't have tattoos, both of which are characteristics of personal choice (James, 2008). Furthermore, employers and employees should both take responsibility for their

Strangers will base their actions toward another person based on the first things they notice about that person, which most often includes a person’s looks. This proclivity is known as the “primacy effect”. “[The] primacy effect is the tendency to be influenced by what information we gather first…This information can be physical attractiveness…” (Hein 1). Although it is not certain as to why this effect is in place, it is certain that this effect is real and common in today’s society. This inclination for attractiveness to equal superior treatment follows over into areas of a person’s life that are not exclusively centered around recreational social interaction. For example, those who are universally thought of as being attractive “make 12 percent more money than those regarded as less good-looking” (Dobson 1). This shows that, yet again, beautiful people receive unjustified advantages from the unknowing people they interact with on a daily basis only because they are physically

Physical attractiveness plays an influential role in determining communication behavior. Evidence from our culture supports that initially we respond much more favorable to those we perceive more physically attractive than those we see as less attractive. Studies have shown that physical attractive people are perceived to exceed unattractive people on socially desirable evaluation such as personality, success, sexuality, popularity and happiness.

We will look at the idea of beauty as a stereotype, in the sense that is shaped in a certain way and which can be positive or negative. As well as it can generate acceptance or rejection. This idea of beauty in our society as roles and permitted representation shows a problem of gender.

Stephen, Ian D., and Perera A. Treshi-Maria. “Judging the Difference Between Attractiveness and Health: Does Exposure to Model Images Influences the Judgements Made by Men and Women?” PloS ONE. Vol. 9, no. 1, pp, 1-8. Academic One File. Doi.

This study is trying to address the effects of physical attractiveness on the perception of performance. Participants are going to be shown pictures of people who are attractive as well as people who are unattractive. These pictures are of male and female faces; participants will be asked to choose between three traits productive, accomplished or incapable. The hypothesis that researchers have given about the Halo Effect states that “attractive people are more likely to be perceived as having better performance.”

It has become increasing clear that beauty may play a role when it comes to social interactions involved in economic or political opportunities. Now, one may ask how beauty could possibly play a noticeable impact on situations concerning economic or political opportunities. Yet, it does. A laboratory experiment was conducted to fully study the impact of “beauty premium”, the positive association and relationship between attractiveness and wages, on economic success in the labor market. The experiment was conducted by Tatyana Deryugina, a professor of finance and her companions. Although illegal, labor market discrimination has occurred based on physical appearances and Tatyana wanted to test this notion. Deriving from this experiment, they were able to conclude that the beauty premium does indeed exist although only in certain circumstances. Only in tasks such as bargaining does beauty premium significantly show a positive correlation. In other tasks such as analysis or data entry, the notion of beauty premium does not exist. They state, “we find that the beauty premium in bargaining completely vanishes in the second round of bidding when the task is repeated, which suggests that employers learn quickly that performance is uncorrelated with attractiveness” (Deryugina 2015). The point is that physical beauty is what deceives the mind into thinking that the more attractive one is, the more competent they may be in performing and executing skills such as bargaining.