WEEK 5: MEDICALISATION OF SEXUALITY Flashcards
What is medicalization?
The process by with certain events or characteristics of life are of life becomes health issues and so doctors and other health professionals have to engage with.( have to study them and provide treatment )
The expansion of medical authority into the dormains of everyday existence with patients becoming passive recepients of care
Asymetry of knowledge between doctors and”their” patients
A social process in which behavior ,conditions and habits are considered matters of health and disease using the biomedical model
Outline ways of social medical control
*ideology: medical model at which the behavior is seen
*Collaboration: doctors assist as part of social control apparatus
*Technology : use of drugs, therapy , screening
*Surveillance: tracking and watching ( follow up)
Outline forces promoting medicalization
Patients
Cultural beliefs
Pharmaceutical companies
Doctors especially specialist
Why medicalization might be seen as a problem?
*Non-medical and traditional ways of dealing with problems are devalued and even destroyed
- People are treated even though they are “normal.”
*People end up seeing themselves as victims and even fail to take action themselves
*All effective treatments have side effects
*Political and social problems demand social solutions but are treated medically
*An increased portion of country wealth is spent on health
*Doctors are oppressed under pressure to “solve” problems they cannot solve
What is medical Nemesis?
The medical establishment has become a threat to health
What is iatrogenesis?
“doctor inflicted” disease
Examples of medicalization of birth
*Caesarean section
Examples of medicalization of sex
*cosmetic surgery
* Transgender hormone treatments and surgery
*Attempts to cure homosexuality
*Erectile dysfunction
*Child birth
*Hormone response therapy ( aging)
The DSM IV
DSM-IV codes are the classification found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
What are the traditional African approaches to sexuality?
*use of herbs to maintain erection
*Use of herbs to tighten and dry vagina
*Women had to give up being sexual beings as an approach to menopause
Medicalization of death examples
- Everyone must have a chance to intensive care before they are left to die
- Introduction of palliative care (Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness)
What are the elements of “good death “ in western culture?
*Pain free death
*Death at home surrounded by family and friends
*An “aware” death in which personal conflicts and unfinished business are solved
*Open acknowledgement of the eminence of death
*Death as personal growth
*Death according to personal preference and in a manner that resonates with the person’s individuality
Describe the following problems associated with
*The problem of expert control
*Individualistic approaches
*Patient activism
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