The medicalization of body size and women's healthcare.
Health Care Women Int
; 29(3): 227-43, 2008 Mar.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18350426
ABSTRACT
In this article we explore the issue of what it means to be "fat" for women in Western (British/North American) society. Contemporary gendered biomedical discourse currently dominates attitudes toward body shapes and sizes (Bordo, 1995). Further, under the rhetoric of "health," a large body size has come to be symbolic of self-indulgence and moral failure. In this article we argue this may lead women to question both their sense of self and their rights to adequate health care. Our aims are threefold first, to challenge rigid hegemonic biomedical perspectives on "fatness" and the oppressive unequal power relations they may create; second, to examine the process by which such perspectives come to be the only legitimate discourse; third, to consider the impact of pathological medicalised definitions of "obesity" on women's perceptions of their bodies and experiences of health services.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Autoimagem
/
Meio Social
/
Valores Sociais
/
Imagem Corporal
/
Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde
/
Saúde da Mulher
/
Obesidade
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
/
Europa
/
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Health Care Women Int
Assunto da revista:
ENFERMAGEM
/
SAUDE DA MULHER
/
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Ano de publicação:
2008
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Reino Unido