Medical Entanglements

Rethinking Feminist Debates about Healthcare

Kristina Gupta

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781978806610
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Medical Entanglements uses intersectional feminist, queer, and crip theory to move beyond "for or against" approaches to medical intervention. Using a series of case studies – sex-confirmation surgery, pharmaceutical treatments for sexual dissatisfaction, and weight loss interventions – the book argues that, because of systemic inequality, most mainstream medical interventions will simultaneously reinforce social inequality and alleviate some individual suffering. The book demonstrates that there is no way to think ourselves out of this conundrum as the contradictions are a product of unjust systems. Thus, Gupta argues that feminist activists and theorists should allow individuals to choose whether to use a particular intervention, while directing their social justice efforts at dismantling systems of oppression and at ensuring that all people, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, class, or ability, have access to the basic resources required to flourish.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• 1. Introduction: No Safe Ground
• 2. Feminist Critiques of Medicine (and Some Responses)
• 3. Theorizing from Transition-Related Care: Analytical Tools for Complexity
• 4. Sexuopharmaceuticals: Queering Medicalization
• 5. Constructing Fat, Constructing Fat Stigma: Rethinking Weight-Reduction Interventions
• 6. Conclusion: Medicine without Eugenics?
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• References
• Index
• About the Author