The social fight against injustice and several institutional issues has been taking place for decades, but due to the COVID lockdown and social restrictions, our screens have created a focused space to highlight the fact that we need to stand up for our beliefs. Entire generations have come together to raise their voices against what feels unacceptable in their hearts, but inside the euphoria, it is certainly easy to make it about the performance and social praise, instead of actually taking action to move the needle towards social improvement. Today’s episode is very special, as Dr. Rosie Sendher and Dr. Erica Fisk are joined by their inspiring colleague Dr. Shaina Lipa, to have a discussion around social media “activism”, the double standards of the medical ecosystem, and whether professionals should “censor” their personal lives for the sake of professionalism.
Dr. Shaina Lipa is an orthopedic surgeon dedicated to the improvement of health and health care disparities. She is an inspiring figure for her peers and community not only as a professional, but also for the person she has become, as she is not shy or apologetic about standing up for herself and others. Dr. Lipa believes in the power of social media as a platform and encourages others to use it for good.
Fighting injustice, sexism and discrimination, not to mention the entirety of social issues that lurke in our comunnities, is so much more than a hashtag and an Instagram post. These actions, even with the best of intentions, may add up to the cause, but aren’t necessarily making a difference. Sometimes less is more, and we can all make the world a better place by putting our phones down, not making things about ourselves and the recognition, and doing small, simple, but impactful acts of kindness for the people who need it the most. That’s how we change the world! Listen to this insightful episode to get inspired into taking action and doing the activism that your community deserves.
In this episode we chat about:
- (04:08) - On racism and its true roots — “This is not an individual people problem, this is an institutional problem. These issues are structural in our society.”
- (10:36) - Why social movements and activism should never become performative — “Thanks to social media, anything can be up there, which is good and bad. But the good part about it is that now people whose voices are now being heard, while they were never heard in the past.”
- (16:06) - Should professionals be cautious when using their own social media as platforms? — “I think for some patients, it makes me more human to them.”
- (21:12) - On the Med Bikini Challenge and the double standards of the medical field — “Women were selected specifically and told that this was unprofessional, but there was no mention of men in swim trunks.”
- (30:02) - The Social Media Train and the apparent impact of a post against the importance of awareness and action taking — “But instead of posting I was like: ‘Why don’t I just stop and call my mom instead?’. Do something that doesn’t have to be recognized instead of hashtagging Black Lives Matter and Med Bikini, and we’re going to start to be the change.”
- (35:15) - The balance between social media usage and a professional career — “Part of me doesn’t want to lose the personal side of my Instagram page to just being professional.”
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