Women And Health: Feminist Perspectives

Drawing its contributions from a variety of disciplines (including cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary work), this book focuses not only on women’s health as a topic within psychology, but also highlights feminist research on health rather than health research on women. Derived from the 1992 Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society, this comprehensive volume provides a broad sample of contemporary British feminist work on women and health. It spans the disciplines of psychology, sociology, social policy, social anthropology and economics, and demonstrates the development of feminist theorizing and activism in these areas over the past decade. Topics include: global and national politics of women’s health; the psychologization of health: sexuality and AIDS; body image and pregnancy; reproductive technology; substance abuse; breast cancer; and the long-term health problems of women. Calling for a greater understanding of women and health, the contributors acknowledge the gender-based inequities of women’s experiences and address the need for social and political change in order to improve the health and health care of women across the lifespan.