Gender and the Social Construction of Illness

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.

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

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

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Gender and the Social Construction of Illness

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials