Beschreibung:
In this energetic new study, Wendy Mitchinson traces medical perspectives on the treatment of women in Canada in the first half of the twentieth century. It is based on in-depth research in a variety of archival sources, including Canadian medical journals, textbooks used in many of Canada’s medical faculties, popular health literature, patient case records, and hospital annual reports, as well as interviews with women who lived during the period.
"Observing that medical knowledge and practice are socially constructed and thus reflect their culture and times, Body Failure details the medical 'management' of women's bodies over the course of their lives. By documenting these processes it constitutes an important contribution to the field." -- Juanne Clarke, Department of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University
Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter One Woman's Place Chapter Two Growing Up and Facing Puberty Chapter Three "You can't be at your best when you're sitting in a swamp": Menstruation Chapter Four Understanding Sexuality Chapter Five Advice on Marriage and Motherhood Chapter Six "On the fringe of knowledge": Infertility Chapter Seven Controlling Fertility: Birth Control and Abortion Chapter Eight "The ... mischievous tendency of specialism": Gynaecology Chapter Nine The Womanly Body: A Cancer Threat Chapter Ten The Mind's Health Chapter Eleven Menopause: The End of Womanhood Conclusion Notes on Sources and Methodology