Chapter 1 - Feminist Perspective - Module 1 Flashcards
Gender
Gender is defined as a person’s self-representation as man or woman or the way in which social institutions respond to that person based on the individual’s gender presentation.
Gender is not synonymous with sex.
Gender, Let’s Talk definition
Gender refers to what a person, society, or legal system defines as “male” or “female.”
Sex
Sex refers to one’s biological characteristics - anatomical (breast, vagina; penis, testicles), physiological (menstrual cycle; spermatogenesis, and genetic (XX, XY) - as a female or male.
Feminism
Feminism is a perspective that acknowledges the oppression of women within a patriarchal society, and struggles toward the elimination of sexist oppression and domination for all human beings.
Oppression
Oppression is defined as “not having a choice,”
Feminist Model of Care, Components
- Works with women as opposed to for women; partnership, not authoritative relationship
- Uses heterogeneity as an assumption, not homogeneity
- Minimizes or exposes power imbalances, based on a belief in a woman’s right to self-determination.
- Rejects androcentric models as normative
- Challenges the medicalization and pathologizing of normal physiologic processes
- Seeks social and political change to address women’s health issues.
Medicalization
Medicalization is the process of labeling conditions as “diseases” or “disorders” as a basis for providing medical treatment. This can lead to the general expansion of medical control into everyday life.
Sex
Sex is the classification of living things as man or woman according to their reproductive organs and functions assigned by chromosomal complement.
Gender
Gender is a person’s self-representation as man or woman or who that person is responded to by social institutions based on the individual’s gender presentation. Gender is rooted in biology and shaped by the environment and experience.
Biology
Biology is the study of life and living organisms, including the genetic, molecular, biochemical, hormonal, cellular, physiological, behavioral, and psychosocial aspects of life.
Single most powerful contributor to illness and premature death
Low socioeconomic status is the single most powerful contributor to illness and premature death.
Racial and ethnic disparities
Women of racial and ethnic minority groups experience many of the same health concerns as do white women; however, as a group, the are “in poorer health, use fewer health services, and continue to suffer disproportionately from premature death, disease, and disabilities.”
Gender-based violence
Any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.
Human Rights Framework for Safe Motherhood
- Rights relating to life, liberty, and security of the person.
- Rights relating to the foundation of families and of family life
- Rights relating to the highest attainable standard of health and the benefits of scientific progress, including health information and education.
- Rights relating to equality and nondiscrimination on grounds such as sex, marital status, race, age, and class.
Health, biomedical definition
Health is biomedically defined as the absence of disease.
