Gender and the Social Construction of Illness

by Lorber, Judith; Moore, Lisa Jean

• ISBN13: 9780759102385
• ISBN10: 0759102384
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-15
• Publisher: AltaMira Press

Summary

Judith Lorber and Lisa Jean Moore consider the interface between the social institutions of gender and Western medicine in this brief, lively textbook. They offer a distinct feminist viewpoint to analyze issues of power and politics concerning physical illness. For a creative, feminist-oriented alternative to traditional texts on medical sociology, medical anthropology, and the history of medicine, this is an ideal choice.

Author Biography

Judith Lorber is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women's Studies at Brooklyn College and The Graduate School, City University of New York Lisa Jean Moore is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York

Table of Contents

Series Editors' Foreword	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Gender and the Social Construction of Illness: Overview	1	(12)
Sex Differences and Gender Statuses
The Social Construction of Illness
The Social Context
Overview of the Book
Women Get Sicker, but Men Die Quicker: Social Epidemiology	13	(24)
Birthing and Getting Born: Have Money or Be a Boy
Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Good and Bad Social Pressures
Adulthood: Health by Choice or by Circumstances?
Work and Family: Protection and Danger
Old Age: Women Live Longer but Not Better
Dying: Gendered Death Dips
Summary
Hierarchies in Health Care: Patients, Professionals, and Gender	37	(16)
Hierarchies of Heath Care Providers
Nurses: Doctor's Handmaidens or Partners?
Gender and Physicians' Practice Styles
Are Women Doctors Better for Women Patients?
Can Women Doctors Change Health Care
Summary
Gender and Disability: Contradictions and Status Dilemmas	53	(18)
Gender Contradictions in Disability
Gender Caregiving
Gender and Altruism
A Man but Not a Man, a Woman but Not a Woman
Toward a Continuum of Bodiedness
Summary
If a Situation Is Defined as Real: Premenstrual Syndrome and Menopause	71	(22)
Medicalized Menstruation
Cultural Constructions of Menstruation
Ritual Menstruation
Emotional Menstruation
PMS: Hormonal Hurricane or High Energy State?
Menopause: The End of Womanhood or the Beginning of a Valued Status?
Politics of PMS and Menopause
Transforming Diagnoses Back into Women's Troubles
Summary
Genital Surgeries: Gendering Bodies	93	(16)
Female Ritual Genital Surgery
Male Ritual and Medical Genital Surgery
Genital Surgery on Intersexuals
Politics of Genital Surgery
Summary
A Modern Plague: Gender and AIDS	109	(28)
AIDS by the Numbers
Social Paths of Transmission
Safer Sex
The Gender Politics of Risk and Prevention
Mother-to-Child Transmission
Living with AIDS
``AIDS Is Everyone's Trojan Horse''
Summary
Healing Social Bodies in Social Worlds: Feminist Health Care	137	(14)
Social Contingencies of Health Care Delivery
Women's and Men's Health Movements
Participatory Medical Encounters
Being a Patient
Making Changes
Summary
References	151	(26)
Index	177	(8)
About the Authors	185