Dr. Bigot
A couple of years ago, I worked in a big city hospital where I had a conversation with Dr. Bigot. Dr Bigot very openly expressed his narrow-minded view about the LBGTQ community. He refuses to provide medical care to the people of the LGBTQ community and clearly does not support the cause and the movement to end bigotry.
Dr. Bigot strongly and emphatically argued in support of his skewed world view. He did not understand and was not opened to trying to understand that the world is not just made up of two sexes – male and female. He did not want to understand that there is a spectrum of genders and sexual orientations. The more I tried to explain to him that the world was diverse and much bigger than he would every know, the more indignant he became. His tiny world view mattered to him, and he was not about to change it. In his small mind, he was better than the rest of us in the world.
Unfortunately, Dr. Bigot’s hospital was the only hospital in a 30-mile radius. If you lived in his town, you would have no other choice but to be exposed to his care.
Fortunately, not all physicians are like Dr. Bigot. A good number of healthcare professionals are accepting and nonjudgmental. These healthcare professionals are willing and open to learning that the world is about diversity and that the world does not just revolve round them. And there are fewer healthcare providers who are willing to work to actively change their communities.
Why is diversity in the med spa important?
I could go about trying to scientifically justify with research papers the reasons why diversity in important in the med spa world, but I would not. I would use the rule of KISS (Keep It Simple Suzanne) in answering this question and say, diversity in the med spa is important because it is the right thing to do. Diversity is important because acceptance of people in our society is important and because we are humans. When we discriminate, we hurt other people, we promote and grow negativity in our communities, we fail at making our communities a better place and in turn, we fail at making the world a better place.
Unlike hospitals where you do not get to choose who your medical provider is, in medical spas (med spas), you have choice of who you can trust your face, your hair, your body, mind and your complete wellbeing to.
You can decide if your beliefs and values align with that of your medical provider’s. You can decide if it is important for you to be cared for by a medical professional who is accepting and nonjudgmental. You make that choice of being in control of your antiaging and wellness journey. Your aesthetic and antiaging journey is an important part of your life and this decision you should not leave to chance.
Why should diversity be promoted?
In med spas aesthetic is about you. It is an art about your medical provider understanding your uniqueness and how it relates to your identity. Aesthetics is about your medical provider being attuned to how you express yourself and how you are perceived in and by your community. Your aesthetics journey is about aging gracefully in your community. So, when your medical provider’s views, values and beliefs aligns with yours, only then are they able to help you accomplish the goal which you seek to achieve with aesthetics.
How can healthcare professionals promote diversity in med spas?
Because the fight and the struggle for equality in healthcare still exists, because bigotry needs to be ended, it is important your values and what is important to you is aligned with your aesthetics provider’s. Your provider should be one who will not sit and hide away and pretend the plight and struggles of the LGBTQ community is a fiction of your imagination. Because to be quiet to the fight of the LGBTQ community means to inadvertently and passively support what is wrong. To be quiet to the community’s struggle and cause means to passively support violence against our brothers, sisters and friends within the community.
Medical professionals have an obligation and have to stand for what is right. Medical professionals need be vocal about their message of equity in healthcare. Medical professionals need to stand for the cause of the LGBTQ community. They can no longer be passive and stand on the sidelines.
All medical practices including med spas should be safe harbors for all people. Medical practices need to stand up and fight for what is right, and fight for humanity. Medical practices need to unite and speak with one voice to fight for our brothers, sisters and friends in the LGBTQ community.
For no one has been made judge and juror to decide who people’s individual identities are. No one has the right to dictate how other people should think, what they believe in, and who they are, what they love and how they love. No one has the right to impose ideas and believes on others.
As humans, we should celebrate and embrace each other’s diversity. For we cannot all be the same. Diversity and differences exist everywhere even within families. No two individuals are the same, not even identical twins.
I cannot stress enough the point that medical spas need to wake up and smell the roses and embrace diversity in their communities. Medical spas should be at the forefront of ending division and promote equality. Medical spas should refrain from acts of discrimination which create hatred and violence within our communities.
In short, there is no place for hatred and bigotry in healthcare.
What should you look for in a med spa?
Now that you are aware of why med spa providers need to promote diversity, you should be able to make a conscious decision on which medical professional you trust your antiaging care to. Do you inadvertently want to promote the bigotry you are fighting so hard to end or do want to continue to spread the message of love and acceptance?
It may be a bit time consuming to weed through the numerous med spas in your community to find the right medical professional with the right values, but the truth is by being selective, you are changing your community. And by being selective you are influencing your med spa providers to change their views, to promote equality and acceptance in the greater community.
Here are 10 tips on how to choose your right med spa for your needs
- First it goes without saying that you need to make sure the medical/aesthetic/med spa provider you choose to work with is well qualified and knows their skills.
- Ask yourself is your med spa provider’s values align with yours? You can learn a lot about medical providers and med spas by doing a quick internet researching on them.
- Does the med spa provider openly promote diversity? On the internet, businesses are often open about who and what they stand for. Look at the med spa’s website pictures, what message do they tell, do they tell a story of support for the LGBTQ movement.
- Social media sites are also a good place to start your search on the provider you are interested in. What comments do they make? Who do they associate with? Are they open and vocal about their support for the LBGTQ community?
- Does the med spa have a diverse team? This is often a very strong indication of support for diversity in the community.
- Does your med spa provider promote or support other LGBTQ businesses in the community? Aesthetic providers who support LGBTQ community will patronize the businesses within the LGBTQ community.
- Is your med spa provider open minded and willing to learn the world is diverse?
- Does your med spa provider support the bigoty agenda?
- Does your med spa identify as a safe harbor for the LGBTQ community?
- Does your med spa donate money, goods, service or time to the LGBTQ community?
The choice is yours
Making the world a better place starts by changing our communities, and it starts by individual changes. Your med spa provider can start changing their communities by sending messages of equity, acceptance and diversity with their med spa’s message. Med spa providers can spread the word, that they do not and would not stand for bigotry. Med spas need to stand for and support the fight to promote equity not only in healthcare but in the world.
The next time you chose to you visit a med spa, what are you saying with your actions? Are you saying I understand you (the medical professional) are on the fence about who I am, and I am aware you are not in support of my fight for equality in the world, but I still will have you join me on my aesthetic journey?
Or are you willing to make a conscious decision to purposefully chose a med spa provider who supports the cause of the LGBTQ community and will fight for you.
The choice is yours.
