Gender and the Politics of Health. (3 h)

Examines the intersections of gender, medicine, health, and illness, with a focus on the U.S. context. Topics include: reproduction, mental illness, breast cancer, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS, among others. We explore the following questions: How have women and men interacted differently with the field of medicine, as healers, patients, and subjects of medical research? How do social and cultural norms about gender influence the definition of illness categories? What role does medicine play in defining and enforcing the boundaries of what is considered socially acceptable in terms of gender? How does gender as a social role affect health outcomes? (POR)