HLTHAGE 2B03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Medicalization, Menopause, Harm Reduction
19 Dec 2016
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Oct 26, 2016
HLTHAGE 2B03
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Walk - Womb is Womb
Birthing Experiences - Traditionally a rite of passage (a personal event from girlhood to
womanhood) and also a public event (facilitated by others/doctors)
Lacks acknowledgement of diversity, minorities, non-normative status persons i.e. Lesbians
Inclusiveness not necessarily there, cultural ignorance
Traditionally birthing was a medical event however can also look at social factors that influence
it, contextualize it
Event is somewhat limited due to the heternomative status quo - historical roots = white middle
class (heterosexual) males within a patriarchal framework with legitimate domination who have
categorized normality and deviance
Lesbian women thus face discrimination and misunderstanding when they seek health care and
birthing facilitation
Births are medicalized for the greater part - for Lesbians the environment is filled with
discrimination and misunderstanding
Lesbians and their different needs ramen invisible and the sexuality is innately invisible
The contradiction here is that their sexuality is invisible and they with the assumption on the part
of others that they are heterosexual they are seen as heterosexual and thus respected - it also
means they are not seen for who they really are thus from that point of view they are not
respected for their authentic selves
Here in lies the disclosure dilemma - Three options exist
1. Come out
2. Lie or risk disrespect
3. Prepare a cheat sheet reading the relationship, names, roles of the people in the families
there to support the new mom
At times the Lesbian women, when known to the health care providers, experiences hospital
ignorance
Question arises as to whether they may be a degree of medical profiling i.e., race, class,
gender, sexuality, and does this result in differences in medical services and way people are
treated
If so do others face this systemic oppression - the poor, those involved in violence - and again in
turn does this affect the person physical psychological well-being
The majority of health issues or research has not focused on “minority” health issues or people
from diverse backgrounds
Social context can be lost when trying to treat a patient
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Oct 26, 2016
HLTHAGE 2B03
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Surrender or Survival
Lesbians must be strong in this environment and be ready to confront the judgement of the
outside world
Changes a foot - i.g. birth certificates altered to reflect two women as the parents if the donor is
unknown in B.C., Quebec permits re-registering so the non-biological mother may be legally
named and recognized
Deeper Issues
Lesbian motherhood vicarious experience - the nature of the empathy is different for the two
women it is an embodied experience, perhaps one partner can hold the pregnancy/birth and the
other can not, this can re-trigger the non pregnant moms feeling of inadequacy, resentment or
even envy given that she is not the one having their child, one may experience flashbacks given
the pain of the birthing for example sexual abuse, rape
It is all about context - it all about the diversity of experiences - it is all about the boundaries of
identity
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Oct 26, 2016
HLTHAGE 2B03
! of !310
Parry - Women’s Lived Experiences with Infertility
Infertility - often seen as a women’s problem
Def. inability to conceive after one year of timely, unprotected intercourse of the ability to carry a
live pregnancy to birth
Medicalization of infertility: biomedical dominance
1. Described in medical language
2. Treated in medical institutions
3. Persons treated as patients
Ignore other social determinates
Medical model is most can be most invasive in reproductive, child birth and abortion
Women not always heard
The infertility requires research grounded in the women’s lives lived, women are identified with
the infertility
Series of stages of infertility = Long term impact
How do women feel about their infertility, the need to experience a meaning making process
where they can share their own narrative, where they can gather knowledge generated through
the dialogue and by listening and talking themselves
Closure is achieved in only three ways
1. A conception
2. Adoption
3. Remain childless
The research indicated that all the participants experiences the stages of infertility
1. Recognition of the problem
2. Cautious optimism
A. To start - steps taken
B. Decision of treatment has to be made based on certain criteria
This is often an emotional coaster, cycles of hope and disappointment, fierce determination a
buffer against the odds, set backs a probability
3 Turning points
1. Conception
2. Conception was impossible
Thus begins the resolution of feelings = for the who prove infertile there is a shift in identity
whereby they stop thinking of themselves as “I am not pregnant yet” and start thinking of
themselves as infertile
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
