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Changing ideas: The medicalization of menopause

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  • Bell, Susan E.

Abstract

This paper examines the intellectual roots of the medicalization of menopause in the 1930s and 1940s. An analysis of published papers written by prominent American medical specialists reveals three models that were developed to understand menopause--biological, psychological and environmental-- and shows how each contributed to its medicalization. This transformation was made possible by the paradigm of sex endocrinology and the availability of a new drug (DES), which was produced in 1938. Exploring the medicalization of menopause illuminates some of the special and complicated ways that women's experiences are vulnerable to medical control.

Suggested Citation

  • Bell, Susan E., 1987. "Changing ideas: The medicalization of menopause," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 535-542, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:24:y:1987:i:6:p:535-542
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    Cited by:

    1. MacKendrick, Norah A. & Troxel, Hannah, 2022. "Like a finely-oiled machine: Self-help and the elusive goal of hormone balance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    2. Fishman, Jennifer R. & Flatt, Michael A. & Settersten, Richard A., 2015. "Bioidentical hormones, menopausal women, and the lure of the “natural” in U.S. anti-aging medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 79-87.
    3. Ilona Voicu, 2020. "Disease or Release? A Content Analysis on How is Menopause Framed in Romanian Online Media," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 8(1), pages 141-148, June.
    4. Clare Butler, 2020. "Managing the Menopause through ‘Abjection Work’: When Boobs Can Become Embarrassingly Useful, Again," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(4), pages 696-712, August.
    5. Padamsee, Tasleem Juana, 2011. "The pharmaceutical corporation and the 'good work' of managing women's bodies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1342-1350, April.
    6. Michel, Joanna L. & Mahady, Gail B. & Veliz, Mario & Soejarto, Doel D. & Caceres, Armando, 2006. "Symptoms, attitudes and treatment choices surrounding menopause among the Q'eqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 732-742, August.
    7. Bell, Susan E. & Figert, Anne E., 2012. "Medicalization and pharmaceuticalization at the intersections: Looking backward, sideways and forward," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(5), pages 775-783.
    8. Rayner, Jo-Anne & Pyett, Priscilla & Astbury, Jill, 2010. "The medicalisation of 'tall' girls: A discourse analysis of medical literature on the use of synthetic oestrogen to reduce female height," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(6), pages 1076-1083, September.

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    Keywords

    medicalization menopause women;

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