Resources on Menopause and HRT

The following brief discussion of resources concerning menopause and HRT
(hormone replacement therapy) took place on WMST-L in August 2006.  For
additional WMST-L files available on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

Hello, all,
 
I am putting together a readings package for a Sociology of the Body course,
and am looking for a replacement article for one that I have used in the
past by Joy Barbre. While I quite like Barbre's approach on social
constructionism, I am looking for something more current, perhaps outlining
the debates about HRT and medicine's persistance in prescribing it, but also
including the 'forever feminine' history. Thanks for your suggestions.
 
Best,

Claudia Malacrida
Associate Professor, Sociology
University of Lethbridge
4401 University Drive
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1K 3M4
claudiam  AT  tleusplanet.net

I should probably have prefaced this request with a statement about my
approach - while I noted that I liked Barbre's social constructionism, I
also should explain that I do acknowledge and work through with my students
that there is a material, real body somewhere within all the social
control's, social construction's and social interpretation's of bodies. We
do discuss the limits of a purely biological or a purely constructionist
body (I say this because, having looked over the archives on 'menopause', I
see that this question of essentialist/biological/constructed bodies has
already been debated where menopause is concerned).
Best regards,

Claudia Malacrida

Hi, Claudia.  I have a paper that might be of use to you: "Menopause: 
Taking the Cures or Curing the Takes?" in Mother Time: Women, Aging, and
Ethics, ed. Margaret Urban Walker. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 
1999, pp. 151 174.

Joan

Joan Callahan <buddy  AT  pop.uky.edu>

Hi Claudia,

Although it is not exactly what you are looking for I would suggest
Judith Houck's "What Do These 
Women Want? Feminist Responses to Feminine Forever 1963-1980" (Bull.
Hist. Med., 2003, 77: 
103-132) for a discussion of different reactions to HRT and Wilson's book.

And, for a recent and broader discussion on HRT, and its social
construction by different groups:

"When Practices, Promises, Profits, and Policies Outpace Hard Evidence:
The Post-Menopausal 
Hormone Debate" Naughton, Michelle et.al. (The Journal of social issues,
2005 vol:61 iss:1 pg:159)

Best,

Maral Erol
erolm  AT  rpi.edu
Ph.D. Candidate 
Science and Technology Studies Department
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

There is a wonderfully feminist book theorizing menopause: Paul 
Komesaroff, Philipa Rothfield, and Jeanne Daly, eds. _Reinterpreting 
Menopause: Cultural and Philosophical Issues_. Routledge 1997. 
Chapters 10 and 13 specifically address HRT, although neither focuses 
solely on HRT.

More current, but focused mainly on menopause and not HRT, is
Dillaway, Heather. "When Does Menopause Occur and How Long Does it 
Last: Wrestling with Age- and Time-Based Conceptualizations of 
Reproductive Aging." _NWSA Journal_ 18.1 (Spring 2006): 31-60.

Best,
Leni

Leni Marshall
Department of English
University of Minnesota
207 Lind Hall, 207 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
mars0264  AT  umn.edu 

I would also suggest Paula Derry's recent article in a special issue
of Sex Roles from 2001.

Ingrid Johnston-Robledo, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Director of Women's Studies
SUNY, at Fredonia
Fredonia, NY 14063