Women and Their Bodies: Health Movement Report

Today, women in developed countries have the right and opportunities to see a doctor regularly and monitor the state of their health. However, even nowadays, there is a high risk for a woman to feel uncomfortable while visiting a doctor because many topics regarding the women’s health are not discussed openly. In this context, it is important to analyze the ideas regarding the topic claimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, a feminist, and by the representatives of Boston Women’s Health Collective in the 1970s-1980s. These women were among the first activists of the women’s health movement who drew the public’s attention to the problem of sexism related to the provision of health services for women.Women and Their Bodies: Health Movement Report

ns can attract the attention of the reader reviewing the first chapters of the work Women and Their Bodies presented by Boston Women’s Health Collective in 1970. These notions are ‘mystification’, ‘objectification’, and ‘alienation’ (Boston Women’s Health Collective 6). On the one hand, it seems that these ideas have no relation to the issue of women’s health and medical services. However, the closer analysis of the issue indicates that Boston Women’s Health Collective were the first women who clearly stated that females can face such barriers while asking for the medical consultation as ‘mystification’ because male doctors exaggerate their significance and ‘power’; ‘objectification’ because women can be perceived as ‘stupid’ sex objects even by doctors; and ‘alienation’ because women experience barriers in discussing their personal health problems. Therefore, female patients are perceived as ‘females’, rather than ‘patients’. From this point, the booklet was important to present the information on women’s problems when they visit doctors in a form understandable for each female, while avoiding sexism and biased notes.