Sex & Medicine Flashcards

1
Q

Medicine and Gender - initial differences/struggles

A
  1. the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of disease
  2. notions of ‘natural’ difference
  3. medicine and the regulation of gender and sexuality
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2
Q

3 modern day examples of women being under represented in medicine:

A
  1. Gabrielle Jackson “Why don’t doctors trust women? because they don’t know much about us”
  2. black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth
  3. women underrepresented in Pivotal trials of FDA-Approved cancer drugs
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3
Q

What does Ed Cohen note about masculinity and masturbation in the Victorian era?

A

“a non-masturbating, married, industrious, and reproductive body was the healthy standard for middle class masculinity”.

“the youth should be taught to look upon masturbation as a cowardly, selfish, debasing habit, and one which makes those who practise it unfit to associate with boys of proper spirit”.

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4
Q

Medical beliefs and social beliefs of differences between their brains:

A

‘men will never feel like women, nor women like men’

‘men’s brains were distinguished by their firmness, force, self-esteem, courage, combativeness, and destructiveness; women were known for exquisiteness, emotions, susceptibility, and ‘devotion to offspring;, as well as their secrecy, artifice, and nervousness”.

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5
Q

What effect did the Cold War have on medicine and sexuality?

A
  • backlash against sexual unorthodoxy
  • newspaper articles claiming ‘homosexuality can be cured’
  • emphasis on the importance of traditional gender roles to national security

shift from punishment to ‘cure’

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6
Q

What did the Wolfenden Report 1957 advocate for?

A

advocated legalising homosexuality, with an emphasis on medical treatment instead

shift from punishment to ‘cure’

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7
Q

What are some examples of the shift from punishment to ‘cure’?

A

some aversion therapies ‘low-tech’ - use ‘chemical’ approaches instead

common to use emetics and hormones alongside audio, video, and images

increasing amount of machine-based aversion therapy (electro-shock treatment) from 1960s

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8
Q

What were these medical cures for homosexuality meant to accomplish?

A

they were designed to ‘train out’ reactions deemed a deviation from the heterosexual norm

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9
Q

Were the treatments effective? if not what were the effects?

A

completely ineffective

adverse side affects - physical and mental trauma

effect wore off over time - no method emerges that successful ‘cures’ homosexuality or tranvestism.

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10
Q

who was Magnus Hirschfeld and what did he pioneer?

A

1868-1935

founded the Institute of Sexology in Berline, as well as the World League for Sexual Reform

pioneered treatment of what he called ‘transvestism’ and ‘preliminary hermaphroditism’

involved in some of the earliest cases of gender-affirming care.

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11
Q

what does Meyerowitz note on gender-affirming care?

A

‘in the years before 1950 these sensationalised accounts introduced American readers to the very possibility that sex was neither as obvious nor as permanent as it might have seemed”.

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12
Q

Who was Henry Benjamin and what did he do?

A

trained in Germany with Magnus Hirshfeld

important work with trans patients from the 1940s onwards

advocates for affirmative medical care, including surgeries.

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13
Q

What were the Stonewall Riots and when did they occur?

A

June 28th 1969

key role played by trans/gender non-conforming groups, also clientele was racially diverse.

Gay activists use Stonewall to launch gay liberation movements

Trans activists pushed out - form their own groups/organisation like STAR and the QLF.

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14
Q

What were the ‘Difficult Decades’ and why were they difficult for gender non-conformists?

A

divisions between aims and agendas of trans and gay activism

mainstream gay cultures turns away from gender non-conformity

deep tensions within the WLM - trans women expelled from women’s groups

emphasis on ‘biological sex’ and gender as essential.

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15
Q

What does Carol Riddell note on the ‘Difficult Decades’

A

“patriarchal invasion is insidious. the denial of female experience in the name of ideological purity is not a product of, nor a contribution to, feminist culture. when we have to assert this right against other women, for whatever reason, confusion reigns, and patriarchy gains”.

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16
Q

What were the societal conditions in the mid-20th century US that influenced the medical approach to transsexual patients?

A

the Us invested in restabilising social life after the war.

significant trust in scientific and medical communities to solve social and biological ills.

paternalistic model of medicine, where authority resided with medical providers, shaped interactions with patients, inducing trans individuals.

17
Q

How did doctors understand and work with transsexual patients during the era of trans medicine 1950-70

A

severely troubled individuals exhibiting symptomatic delusional thinking, while also being excited by the prospect of medical innovation.

established shared understandings and normative guidelines for treating trans patients, filtering those who didnt conform to societal expectations of gender, sexuality, and lifestyle.

18
Q

what assumptions did doctors make about their trans patients regarding their worthiness for medical interventions?

A

assume trans patients should conform to traditional gender roles and displays ie disgust with their bodies & constantly presenting as their identified gender.

importance on appearance and demeanour, using this criteria to determine patient’s eligibility for medical interventions.

19
Q

how intertwined were gender identity and other factors like sexuality, class, and age in the medical treatment of trans individuals?

A

those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds faced significant barriers to accessing care, and medical providers expected financial stability and productivity.

classism intersected with ableism, influencing perceptions of patient worthiness.

20
Q

What important role did trans people play in shaping medical treatment and approaches?

A

at the forefront

influencing development of norms, guidelines, criteria for accessing gender-affirming surgery.

experiences and interactions with medical providers challenged traditional biases and led to a more inclusive understanding of trans-specific healthcare.

21
Q

Why has medicine been historically interested in gender?

A

medicine’s interest in gender stemmed from a desire to address perceived social disorder and uphold traditional gender roles

historical trends of using scientific knowledge to define ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ bodies also influenced medical interest in gender

societal expectations and the professionalisation of medicine contributed to this focus.

22
Q

Ed Cohen

A

youth should be taught to look upon masturbation as cowardly, selfish, debasing habit, unfit to associate with boys of proper spirit.

23
Q

medicine primary source

A

the Benjamin orientation scale - Henry Benjamin 1966, diagnostic tool I-IV

24
Q

important medicine historian

A

Stef M Shuster

25
Q

what does Shuster argue the reasoning for the change of punishment to cure?

A

destabilising social life after upheavals war bought into intimate spaces

26
Q

what does shuster argue the reasoning for doctors who took on trans patients?

A

some cared about patients, but ere mostly excited about being on the forefront of medical innovation

27
Q

how do doctors choose their patients ready for gender affirming care according to shuster?

A

those deemed credible and worthy were based on societal norms and their expectations of gender conformity.