Abstract:
In the West, the growth of the modern, androcentric medical establishment can
be shown to be correlated with the decline in women’s authority and status in the
healing arts. As the world of science and medicine expanded exponentially, the
understanding of the body changed through the studies of anatomy and physiology.
The male body became the “normal” example of a healthy body, and functions occurred
that in the female body (e.g., child birth and menstruation) were considered diseases.
The process by which non-medical problems become defined and treated as medical
problems, usually in terms of illness and disorder, is called “medicalization” – a process
that has often negatively affected women.
The decline in numbers and influence of women healers is related to the advent
of medicalization of women’s bodies. As a result, components of political, social, and
moral struggles become embodied in women’s physiological beings. Scientists create
truths about sexuality, and women’s bodies incorporate and confirm these truths. These
truths, sculpted by the culture in which biologists practice their trade, eventually
refashion our cultural environment.
