EP.93/ REPOST: Raising Awareness and Creating Community for People of Colour with Endometriosis with Lauren Kornegay of ENDO Black, Plus an Important Story
Hi loves. It’s been a heart-breaking week or so, but an eye-opening one and hopefully a week that signifies the beginning of true change.
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Due to the unacceptable murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop and Ahmaud Arbery (and countless others), I decided not to continue with the planned podcast this week.
Instead, I wanted to share two stories. One is a repost of my interview with Lauren Kornegay of ENDO Black, where she shares her story of racism, endometriosis and isolation in our community and what we can do to be better allies, and another is a story that I’m sharing, of a girl who is no longer with us, who should be.
I don’t know if I’ve done the right thing sharing this story. But I’m convinced that she had endometriosis, and I am convinced that had she been white, the outcome would have been different and she’d be here within our community today. Of course, this episode comes with a trigger warning. The story I share is a story of yet another black death, I’ve seen various posts on IG with black people asking for people to stop sharing stories of more deaths beacause they can’t take anymore where others are calling for these stories to be shared to raise awareness. I’m not sure of the right thing to do here given the divided opinions, I hope I’ve done the right thing by giving her a voice and sharing her story. Please do not listen to the first 30 minutes of this episode if this is a triggering subject for you. I sincerely apologise for any offence I may have caused, if you do indeed feel that I shouldn’t have shared this story.
I also share in today’s episode several IG accounts by black women working in the period wellness and endometriosis community:
Lauren Kornegay is the founder of ENDO Black; a safe space and community for people of colour and African Americans affected by endometriosis. After being diagnosed with endometriosis and discovering that she couldn’t find any materials or information that represented her or didn’t centre around cis white women, she decided to go out and create it for herself and the communities that have been so underrepresented.
And Lauren’s work is so needed. Here are some shocking statistics about people of colour and the treatment they receive (or don’t receive) around their reproductive health (thanks to Maisie Hill for this info in her book):
Black women are more likely than white women to have unnecessary surgeries such as hysterectomies.
A 2012 review of endometriosis research found that only two articles were devoted to endometriosis in black women. They were published in 1975 and 1976 and found that black women with endometriosis tended to be incorrectly diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease - disease caused by sexually transmitted infections.
In the UK, black women are five times more likely to die in the childbirth year than white women, and Asian women are twice as likely to.
In fact, Maisie goes on to explain “In the American South there is a history of medical students practicing medically unnecessary hysterectomies on poor black women without informed consent” and that “it was the experimental reproductive surgeries performed on black enslaved women in the 1920s and 1930s that gave birth to modern American gynaecology”.
Lauren is working hard to create support and representation for people of colour, African Americans and other groups that the medical industry have missed when it comes to treating and managing endometriosis. She’s also looking to create change without our policies and laws, and to begin conversations and create awareness within these communities.
In this episode, we talk about Lauren’s personal story and the experiences she had as an African American women with endometriosis, the issues facing people of colour and African Americans with endo and how we can collectively work together to make the endometriosis community more inclusive and be allies to every warrior with endometriosis, not just the ones that look like us.
It was an absolute privileged to have Lauren on and share this incredibly important message with us - I am truly grateful for the work she is doing!
Show Notes
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My cookbook This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast is out now! Get 28 anti-inflammatory, hormone friendly recipes for living and thriving with endometriosis. Order your copy here.
If you feel like you need more support with managing endometriosis, you can join Your EndoLife Coaching Programme. A 1-to-1 three month health and life coaching programme to help you thrive with endometriosis. To find out more about the programme and to discuss whether it could be right for you, email me at hello@thisendolife.com or visit my website.
This episode is produced by Ora Podcasts. Ora provides audio editing, management and other services to make podcasting simple and sustainable for their clients. Health coaches, nutritionists, mediums, personal trainers, tarot readers, teachers, or just those striving for a better world, Ora can help you start and maintain your podcast. Get in touch today.
This episode is sponsored by BeYou Cramp Relief Patches. Soothe period cramps the natural way with these 100% natural and discreet menthol and eucalyptus oil stick on patches. Click here to find out more and to shop: https://beyouonline.co.uk/pages/how-it-works
My free guide ‘Managing Endometriosis Naturally’ is perfect for anyone just starting out on this journey of managing and reducing their symptoms. Download here.
My free Endometriosis Diet Grocery List is a pdf list that includes all the foods I buy on a monthly basis, categorised into easy sections. I share my personal endometriosis diet plan, free recipe resources, recommendations to help you get started with the endometriosis diet and nutrition tips. Download here.
My free “Endometriosis Symptom Tracker” could help you begin to understand the subtle patterns in your endometriosis symptoms. As always, this guide doesn’t replace your medical treatment and is not intended to treat or cure endometriosis, but provides you with options that helped me to live well with endometriosis. Download here.