Assignment: Women, Health & Healing Potential Exam
i. How did the introduction and medicalization of the birth control pill change women's health care and interactions with physicians (provide at least 2 examples)? Were pap smears initially widely accepted, why or why not? How was medicalization of the birth control pill related to widespread use of pap smears to screen for cancer?
ii. While research suggests that men and women equally engage in discussions about contraception and which method to use, Kimport's research highlights the fact that the actual work of preventing pregnancy in heterosexual relationships, including the mental and emotional work, largely falls on women. Describe at least two examples of the time, attention, and stress that women had to undergo to manage their contraception. What normalization, or management strategies were available to help women do this reproductive labor? In our assigned reading by Mann and colleagues, we learned about LARCs - methods that can potentially minimize women's labor involved in controlling their fertility. What were women's motivations for using LARCs? Why did some women opt to stick with oral contraceptives (the pill)?
iii. Do home pregnancy tests increase or decrease the amount of medicalization that women experience? Fully explain and provide support your answer.
iv. Select three social institutions (one must be health care settings) and describe the persistent patriarchal biases within social institutions that normalize, encourage, or hide violence against women.
v. Provide five reasons that rape is so prevalent among fraternity men on college campuses. Be sure to include specific explanations of each reason.
vi. What was the prevalence of domestic violence (both physical abuse and sexual coercion) among Rosen's sample of young teen mothers? How much reproductive control did the young mothers in this study have? How does the social network composition of these young mothers vary by abuse status and what implications does this have for mothers and their children?
vii. Women are more vulnerable to HIV infection than their male counterparts. Please provide three reasons that we see this greater vulnerability among women. Fletcher and colleagues (2016) focused on HIV positive African American women, a group that is particularly vulnerable to new HIV infections. How did these women stigmatized and how did they cope within the interpersonal, community, and institutional levels?
viii. Mehra and colleagues explored how gendered racism - or racialized pregnancy stigma - manifested itself in the daily lives of pregnant Black women. Please provide two examples for each of the following: a) racialized pregnancy stigma in everyday context, b) racialized pregnancy stigma in obtaining health care, and c) racialized pregnancy stigma in obtaining services and resources. Finally, describe at least two ways that the women in the study countered racialized pregnancy stigma - what helped them cope?
ix. To better understand women's attitudes towards the use of technology in birth, Kornelsen compared two groups of women - those who birthed in a hospital and those who chose to have a home birth. How did women in each of these groups view the role of technology in birth? Did women in both groups feel as though they had control over the use of technology in their births? Finally, how was technology related to birth satisfaction?
x. Adams interviewed women who had undergone invasive cosmetic surgery procedures. What were participants motivations and/or meanings attached to having their procedure? How did participants evaluate their procedure once it was completed? Was it viewed as a success? Would they pursue other surgeries in the future?
xi. Describe four ways in which women of low socioeconomic status are marginalized within the medicalized context of infertility. What alternatives to biological mothering do low income women report engaging in that help them fulfill cultural motherhood mandates?
xii. In the Remennick (2000) reading, we learned more about women in Israel and their experience with infertility. What is unique about this Israeli context, and what implications does this have on women's ability to make choices about how to address their infertility? Describe five changes that these infertile women reported to their lives as they underwent treatment.
xiii. How is menopause presented in Western cultures? Are there any variations by culture in terms of the reaction and treatment of menopause (provide specific examples)? How does the biomedical model define menopause? What are the implications of this biomedical model for the diagnosis and treatment of menopause?
xiv. Heather Dillaway explored women's experiences with reproductive aging - please define this concept. How did the women in Dillaway's sample experience reproductive aging? Please consider and include (with examples) whether menopause made women feel "old" and how their social context influenced their lived experiences of reproductive aging. How was menopause the "good" kind of old? Finally, how was menopause in some ways, similar to puberty?
xv. Bennett and colleagues interviewed women aged 65 - 94 about their experiences of aging. The scholars grounded this work in the idea of "self-compassion" - what is "self-compassion" and how might it help women cope with the aging process? Please provide three specific examples of how women used or had difficulty showing themselves self-compassion for their aging bodies. Finally, what were some of the strategies that women used to maintain their health?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
i) The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
ii) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
iii) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.