Commodification And Medicalization Of Menopause

My research investigates the power relations involved in the medicalization and commodification of menopause and the many interests at stake beyond the health of women. My historical analysis of the construction of menopause through a postcolonial lens includes a historical review of menopause that contextualizes women's experiences of menopause within social relations of gender, race and class and political, economical and socio-cultural structures. I trace the historical processes by which White Eurocentric knowledge gained dominance in Canada and the privileging of White Eurocentric biomedical knowledge that leaves unrepresented those who do not belong to the dominant group. Biomedical knowledge can then be seen as an expression of power relations.I propose research investigating women's embodiment of menopause through and with their bodies, exploring why certain menopause discourses are more important to some women than others, and inquiring into the silence around the difference of women's menopause experiences.I document how biomedical discourse presented as the view of menopause suppresses other forms of menopause knowledge as well as how women's bodies can become sites for the operation of colonial power through dominant knowledge. An analysis of my interviews with currently practicing biomedical physicians discloses how their approaches to menopause both reproduce and challenge a medicalized understanding as they work within the confines of biomedicine and the health care system.I advocate for state health care changes to conceptualize menopause as normality rather than as abnormality. Individual women themselves cannot make all the changes by accepting lifestyle and personal health responsibility discourses. I discuss the dismantling of the hegemony of biomedical knowledge through multiple approaches to menopause, acknowledging the challenges of dealing with the power and interests of the pharmaceutical industry and the biomedical communities.My analysis of interviews with 20 women offers a way in to discuss: (1) how women engage with dominant menopause discourses--the ambiguities, concerns, challenges, and the rejecting, buying into and modifying of these discourses; (2) how power relations of race, class and gender organize the conditions for women's menopause constructions; and (3) the everyday details of the exploitation of women's menopausal bodies through commodification for profit.

"An accessible and highly readable introduction to the Sociology of Health and Illness through the inclusion of key theorists, concepts, and theories, with reference to contemporary health concerns and recent relevant research." - Kylie Baldwin, De Montfort University "Guides us through the many reasons for the centrality of health, showing clearly that health and illness are the products not just of our biology but of the society into which we are born...an authoritative analysis of the social nature of health." - Ray Fitzpatrick, University of Oxford This bestselling text introduces students to the core principles of the sociology of health, demonstrating the relationship between social structures and the production and distribution of health and disease in modern society. Written with a truly sociological and critical perspective, the book tackles themes such as class, gender and ethnicity, and engages with a range of theories and theorists, including Foucault, Fleck, Parsons, Weber, and Kuhn. The third edition has been thoroughly updated to include the latest cutting-edge thinking in the area, with new empirical examples, updated references, and new sections on ′Thought Styles after Fleck’, and ‘Transformations of the Medical Profession.′ It also uses helpful learning features including chapter overviews, case studies, summaries and further reading suggestions, to provide stimulating and thought-provoking exercises for students in health, nursing and sociology schools.

Over the past half-century, the social terrain of health and illness has been transformed. What were once considered normal human events and common human problems—birth, aging, menopause, alcoholism, and obesity—are now viewed as medical conditions. For better or worse, medicine increasingly permeates aspects of daily life. Building on more than three decades of research, Peter Conrad explores the changing forces behind this trend with case studies of short stature, social anxiety, "male menopause," erectile dysfunction, adult ADHD, and sexual orientation. He examines the emergence of and changes in medicalization, the consequences of the expanding medical domain, and the implications for health and society. He finds in recent developments—such as the growing number of possible diagnoses and biomedical enhancements—the future direction of medicalization. Conrad contends that the impact of medical professionals on medicalization has diminished. Instead, the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industries, insurance companies and HMOs, and the patient as consumer have become the major forces promoting medicalization. This thought-provoking study offers valuable insight into not only how medicalization got to this point but also how it may continue to evolve.

This open access handbook, the first of its kind, provides a comprehensive and carefully curated multidisciplinary and genre-spanning view of the state of the field of Critical Menstruation Studies, opening up new directions in research and advocacy. It is animated by the central question: ‘“what new lines of inquiry are possible when we center our attention on menstrual health and politics across the life course?” The chapters—diverse in content, form and perspective—establish Critical Menstruation Studies as a potent lens that reveals, complicates and unpacks inequalities across biological, social, cultural and historical dimensions. This handbook is an unmatched resource for researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and activists new to and already familiar with the field as it rapidly develops and expands.

The first book to examine the male body in relation to the sociology of health and gender.

This work deals with the medical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Indian, Egyptian, and Tibetan medicine, the book includes essays on comparing Chinese and western medicine and religion and medicine. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography.

CSA Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,800+ serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers.

In our post-welfare society, health is increasingly viewed as a commodity and individuals are defined as 'health care consumers'. At the same time, the notion that the state should care for the health of its citizens is being replaced by an expectation that citizens should play a more active role in caring for themselves. These developments are by no means uncontentious. Consuming Health explores the diverse meanings and applications of the term 'consumer' in the field of health care and the implications for policy-making, health care delivery and experiences of health care. Contributors are well-known innovative researchers and lecturers from the Australia, the UK and Canada. Between them they cover a wide range of topics - from the medicalisation of the menopause to the participation of consumer groups in the national policy process - to create an original and thought-provoking text for students and practitioners in the field of health care.

In recent years medicalization, the process of making something medical, has gained considerable ground and a position in everyday discourse. In this multidisciplinary collection of original essays, the authors expertly consider how issues around medicalization have developed, ways in which it is changing, and the potential shapes it will take in the future. They develop a unique argument that medicalization, biomedicalization, pharmaceuticalization and geneticization are related and co-evolving processes, present throughout the globe. This is an ideal addition to anthropology, sociology and STS courses about medicine and health.