Towards a New Perspective on Women's Bodies: Learning and Unlearning Together (original) (raw)
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The postconventional body: Retheorising women's health
Social Science & Medicine, 2009
We propose that women's healthdboth theory and practicedis a powerful arena in which to re-align and change the modernist theoretical underpinnings of current biomedical paradigms, which limit our understanding both of concepts of health and illness and of the impact of health care technologies on the body. We highlight the necessity of a move to a more dynamic paradigm for health and illness in the clinic, as well as a theoretical fluidity that allows for the real messiness of lived bodies. We argue that postmodernist thought, within wider feminist theory, is one of many perspectives that can contribute to contemporary biomedicine by providing theoretical underpinnings to develop 1) an understanding of bodies in context, 2) an epistemology of ignorance, and 3) an openness to the risk of the unknown. While these all entail a commitment to self-reflection and a willingness to be unsettled, which may not seem practical in the context of medical practice, we argue that self-reflection and unsettledness will provide pathways for grappling with chronic conditions and global bodies. Overall, we suggest that women's health practice can serve as a site in which both sides of the humanistic/scientific divide can engage with a human self in all its corporeal variety, contingency, and instability. More specifically, by providing a space within the clinic to examine underlying ontological, epistemological, and ethical assumptions, women's health can continue to contribute to new forms of biomedical practice.
Journal of Health Psychology, 2012
In this historical text, Wendy Kline considers how key women's health issues (including contraception, abortion, and childbirth) were approached during the second wave of the feminist revolution. The first chapter, 'Transforming Knowledge', deals with the ways in which second wave feminism came into health care in the 1970s, focusing on the seminal text Our Bodies, Ourselves and looking at how the original book came into being and developments in subsequent editions. Kline
Women's health: women's voices
Health & Social Care in the Community, 2007
This paper presents the results of an exploratory study into the health concerns of women in South Wales. The objective was to obtain information on the way in which women view their own health and the health issues that concern them. The research design replicated a study camed out in Canada by one of the authors. Sixty-five women were interviewed using a structured interview schedule. The core question on the interview schedule took respondents through a list of 68 health and social problems. They were asked to indicate whether they had been worried about or had experienced any of these problems in the previous 6 months. The results support the findings of the Canadian research that reproductive health is not central to women's health concerns. On the contrary, among the most frequently mentioned problems were tiredness, stress, headaches and arthritis. The most frequently mentioned social problem was worrying about money. Women linked their health concerns with other problems such as unemployment, problems combining child care and paid employment and worrying about money. These problems created stress and, in turn, stress either led directly to ill health or else helped to foster 'unhealthy life styles. Women were aware of the possibly harmful effects on health of smoking or drinking, for example, but resorted to them in order to cope with their stressful lives. One of the main conclusions of the study is that it is essential to incorporate women's health concerns into the policy-making process. Women's main health concerns are related to the stressful nature of their lives and, particularly in South Wales, to poverty and unemployment. So-called unhealthy .
The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective and Our Bodies, Ourselves: A Brief History and Reflection
2010
This article offers a brief history of Our Bodies, Ourselves, the landmark book about women’s health and sexuality first published in 1970, as well as the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, its author and sponsor of numerous women’s health initiatives. The organization’s transition from a small, grassroots collective to a non-profit organization working at both the domestic and international levels is briefly discussed, including the development of a more diverse board and staff. Past accomplishments and current concerns of the global women’s health movements are described, including some of the larger advocacy organizations now active in the women’s health field. Collaboration with feminist physicians over the past two decades is also noted.
2020
P regnancy—as well as contraception, abortion, prenatal care, birth, postpartum care, chestfeeding or breastfeeding, and childrearing—are often presented as experiences of cisgender women. Cisgender is a term that describes a person whose current gender identity is consistent with the gender identity generally assumed for the sex they were designated or assigned at birth, which is typically based on external genitalia. For example, a cisgender woman is a person who identifies as a woman and was assigned female sex at birth (ie, the sex listed on their birth certificate). Yet, people of many genders—women, men, genderqueer, nonbinary, and more—can and do carry pregnancies.1,2 We, the authors of this commentary, are sexual and reproductive health advocates, counselors, health-care providers, and researchers with a range of identities, including those who are transgender and gender nonbinary. Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the gender ident...