Search

In recent medical events and articles the hormone testosterone has emerged as a resource for treating problems related to female sexuality. This hormone is commonly defined as the “male hormone” and presented as the “hormone of desire”. This observation led to investigate if and how the use of testosterone is found in the realm of doctors’ offices and if it is being applied as a therapeutic resource for women. This article analyzes what types of approaches and treatments have been used by doctors in a large Brazilian city. The methodology involved sought out medical professionals indicated for their specialization in treating female “sexual problems”. Considering the statements of the professionals interviewed, sexual desire is defined emphatically as the presence or absence of a greater or lesser amount of testosterone. This standard is associated to gender differences that are expressed primarily in terms of biology. Em eventos e artigos médicos recentes, nota-se o surgimento do hormônio testosterona como recurso para o tratamento de problemas relacionados à sexualidade feminina. Este hormônio é comumente definido como o “hormônio masculino” e apresentado como o “hormônio do desejo”. Esta observação levou a investigar se, e como, o uso de testosterona aparece no domínio dos consultórios médicos e se está sendo aplicado como um recurso terapêutico para as mulheres. Este artigo analisa quais tipos de abordagens e tratamentos têm sido utilizados por médicos/as em uma grande cidade brasileira. A metodologia envolveu a busca por profissionais médicos/as que foram indicados/as por sua especialização no tratamento de “problemas sexuais” femininos. Considerando as declarações dos/as profissionais entrevistados/as, o desejo sexual é definido enfaticamente pela presença ou ausência de uma quantidade maior ou menor de testosterona. Este padrão está associado a diferenças de gênero que se expressam principalmente em termos de biologia.

International audience; The experience of childbirth has been technologized worldwide, leading to major social changes. In France, childbirth occurs almost exclusively in hospitals. Few studies have been published on the opinions of French women regarding obstetric technology and, in particular, caesarean section. In 2017–2018, we used a mixed methods approach to determine French women's preferences regarding the mode of delivery, and captured their experiences and satisfaction in relation to childbirth in two maternity settings. Of 284 pregnant women, 277 (97.5%) expressed a preference for vaginal birth, while seven (2.5%) women expressed a preference for caesarean section. Vaginal birth was also preferred among 26 women who underwent an in-depth interview. Vaginal birth was perceived as more natural, less risky and less painful, and to favour mother–child bonding. This vision was shared by caregivers. The women who expressed a preference for vaginal birth tended to remain sexually active late in their pregnancy, to find sexual intercourse pleasurable, and to believe that vaginal birth would not enlarge their vagina. A large majority (94.5%) of women who gave birth vaginally were satisfied with their childbirth experience, compared with 24.3% of those who underwent caesarean section. The caring attitude of the caregivers contributed to increasing this satisfaction. The notion of women's ‘empowerment’ emerged spontaneously in women's discourse in this research: women who gave birth vaginally felt satisfied and empowered. The vision shared by caregivers and women that vaginal birth is a natural process contributes to the stability of caesarean section rates in France.

Neste artigo temos como objetivo caracterizar uma configuração em torno da percepção da fertilidade e descrever sua articulação ao aparato de gênero e à biomedicalização. Com uma abordagem etnográfica, tomamos como ponto de partida um grupo no Facebook sobre percepção da fertilidade e realizamos entrevistas semiestruturadas com seis de suas porta-vozes. Além disso, analisamos livros e sítios que nos foram indicados nessas entrevistas e fizemos observação participante em um curso presencial ministrado por uma das interlocutoras. Concluímos que concomitante a projetos coletivos de empoderamento de corpos e subjetividades com ciclos menstruais, há responsabilização individual pela saúde e pelo autoaprimoramento. Ademais, reforça-se a substancialização do binarismo sexual com a produção de uma “natureza hormonal”, ainda que seja mais associada à saúde que ao gênero. The article aims to characterize fertility awareness and describe its articulation with the gender apparatus and biomedicalization. With an ethnographic approach, we took a group on Facebook as a starting point and conducted semi-structured interviews with six of its spokespersons. In addition, we analyzed books and sites recommended in these interviews and made participant observation in a face-to-face course given by one of the interlocutors. We conclude that fertility awareness practices are related to collective projects for empowering bodies and subjectivities with menstrual cycles and at the same time to individual responsibilisation for health and self-improvement. Furthermore, it reinforces the substantialization of sexual binarism with the production of a “hormonal nature”, although it is linked to health instead of gender.

Levando em consideração que a segurança das pílulas anticoncepcionais voltou a ser alvo de controvérsias nos anos 2010, este trabalho teve como objetivo descrever como a ginecologia brasileira tem se posicionado nesse quadro. Tomando a Federação Brasileira das Associações de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia (Febrasgo) como ponto de partida, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com especialistas em contracepção, observações participantes em congressos nacionais e regionais de ginecologia, além de acompanhamento de notícias sobre contracepção na imprensa, em sites de associações médicas e da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa). Dentre as conclusões, observou-se que as práticas da ginecologia hegemônica têm enfatizado os benefícios e minimizado os riscos das pílulas, contribuindo para a produção e reiteração da segurança do dispositivo. Também são descritas as consequências que tais práticas têm na atualização do aparato de gênero, saúde, risco, aprimoramento e biomedicalização. Considering that the safety of contraceptive pills was once again the subject of controversy in the 2010s, this study aimed to describe where Brazilian gynecology has stood in this context. Taking the Brazilian Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Associations (Febrasgo) as a starting point, semi-structured interviews with specialists in contraception were conducted, participant observation was carried out at national and regional congresses of gynecology, in addition to keeping up to date with news about contraception in the press, and on websites of medical associations and of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa). Among the conclusions, it was observed that the practices of hegemonic gynecology have emphasized the benefits and minimized the risks of the pills, contributing to the production and reiteration of the safety of the device. The consequences that such practices have in the updating of the gender, health, risk, enhancement, and biomedicalization apparatus are also described.

Resumo Este artigo discute a produção de subjetividades e transformações corporais que ocorrem a partir do uso de recursos biomédicos. O fio condutor é a entrevista de uma usuária de implante hormonal. Foi concedida no escopo de um projeto que compreendeu a realização de entrevistas com médicos/as e pacientes/consumidoras de tratamentos hormonais, observações em eventos e análise de documentos. O caso ilustra a emergência de um novo tipo de “paciente-especialista-consumidor/a”, como tem sido descrito/a na bibliografia sobre os processos de biomedicalização da sociedade. Contudo, argumento que, para além desta caracterização, serve para problematizar o estabelecimento de fronteiras predefinidas entre os supostos fatores materiais e discursivos. Considerando a narrativa da entrevistada, percebe-se que a subjetividade produzida é dependente da atuação do implante hormonal, ao mesmo tempo em que o implante exige uma série de investimentos para produzir os efeitos esperados. Isto remete à necessidade de uma abordagem analítica que privilegie os diferentes processos de materialização implicados. Resumen Este artículo discute la producción de subjetividades y transformaciones corporales que ocurren a partir del uso de recursos biomédicos. El hilo conductor es una entrevista con una usuaria de implante hormonal, concedida en el contexto de un proyecto que incluía entrevistas con médicos/as y pacientes/consumidoras de tratamientos hormonales, observación en eventos y análisis de documentos. El caso ilustra la emergencia de un nuevo tipo de “paciente-especialista-consumidor/a”, como ha sido descrito/a en la bibliografía sobre procesos de biomedicalización de la sociedad. No obstante, argumento que, más allá de esta caracterización, el caso sirve para problematizar el establecimiento de fronteras predefinidas entre los supuestos factores materiales y discursivos de tales procesos. Al considerar la narrativa de la entrevistada, se percibe que la subjetividad producida depende de la actuación del implante hormonal y, a su vez, el implante le exige comprometerse con una serie de acciones para producir los efectos esperados. Esto remite a la necesidad de un abordaje analítico que privilegie los diferentes procesos de materialización implicados. Abstract This article discusses the production of subjectivities and bodily transformations related to the use of biomedical resources. Its guiding thread is an interview with a woman who is a hormonal implant user. This interview was carried out within the scope of a project that included interviews with physicians and patients/consumers of hormonal treatments, as well as observations at events and analyses of documents. The case illustrates the emergence of a new type of "patient-specialist-consumer", as has been described in the literature on the biomedicalization of society. Moreover, it serves to problematize the establishment of pre-defined boundaries between the supposed material and discursive factors. Considering the narrative of the interviewee, the subjectivity produced is dependent on the performance of the hormonal implant, at the same time that the implant requires a series of investments to produce the expected effects. This underscores the need for an analytical approach that highlights the different processes of materialization involved.

New biomedicalized forms of longevity, anti-aging ideals, and the focus on successful aging have permeated the current sociocultural and political climate, and will affect the future of aging. This article examines changing attitudes towards sexual practices and the perception of sexuality in later years, as exemplified in Erica Jong’s middle and late life works and interviews. Instead of succumbing to anti-aging culture and biomedicalization of sex in old age, Jong reveals alternative ways of exploring sexual practices in older age, and challenges a pharmaceutical market that promotes the consumption of medication to enhance the idea of virility and ‘sexual fitness’ in older men. Jong’s work undoes the narrative of decline that portrays older individuals as sexually inactive and frail, and, at the same time, shows that the interest in sexual intercourse and the erect phallus gradually becomes less important as people grow older. This qualitative narrative analysis opens the discussion for reconsideration of late-life sexuality beyond biomedical understandings of late-life sex and old age. The study also reveals how a literary approach can provide alterative and more realistic perspectives towards sexual experiences in later stages of life that can have significant implications for healthcare policy and the future of aging.

This thesis explores the increasing medicalization of society, the process whereby social phenomenon are transformed into medical problems. Alike the general tendency of neuropsychiatric diagnoses, the number of people with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) has increased and expanded from a boys’ diagnosis to include both adult men and women. Studies on the latter category is however scarce. The objective of the thesis is to contribute with a micro sociological and critical perspective on the effects of the biomedicalization process, by focusing women's experience of getting and living with ADHD. The empirical material consists of narrative interviews with sixteen women, diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. The participants, age 20 to 50, were enrolled via Swedish NGOs in 2010 and 2013. The thesis resides on four analytical themes: biomedicalization, pharmaceuticalizaton, functionality and gender. It shows how diagnostics evokes processes that involve learning and using a biomedical terminology to describe and understand oneself. ADHD is, in general, depicted as diffuse, expansionary, masculine and deviant sociability and cognitivity. Unlike depression and anxiety, described as temporary and unwanted illnesses, the ADHD-diagnosis embraces the whole personality. Hence, the women find it difficult to identifying and separating ADHD from the self. Furthermore, categorizations of oneself as a ‘woman with ADHD’ imply constructions of individual and collective identity that has ideological implications, i.e. the individual narratives are related to grand narratives. These contradictory grand narratives bring about ideological dilemmas that are handled rhetorically in the women's everyday life. The masculine connotation of ADHD, for example, render the women experiencing themselves as transgressing not only femininity but also ADHD-personhood. Additionally, as social actions are attributed to the ‘ADHD brain’, the brain is portrayed as a pathological deviant and dysfunctional object for pharmaceutical intervention. Nevertheless, this discourse is also contested by the women by pointing to 1) positive aspects of the ‘ADHD-brain’ in everyday life, or 2) gender inequalities and demands of the late-modern society. Concluding, the women in this study are not only victims of their bodies or societal norms, but also agents negotiating – adapting and opposing to – expectations of how to be an ideal citizen or woman.