Arlena Bateman
T00554734
History 4250
Tracy Penny Light
Reading Log #4
February 4, 2018
Wendy Mitchinson’s chapter, “The Womanly Body: A Cancer Threat” reiterates the importance of early diagnosis and the fact that many people postpone seeing a doctor due to the fear associated with cancer. The primary focus is regarding breast and cervical cancer in particular and the challenges of early diagnosis. Challenges such as dealing with denial, fear and proper treatment due to costly procedures which not all people can afford. Mitchinson incorporates many credible sources including researchers, doctors and specialists. The article is very comprehensive and provides information on the history of the disease, its causes, to information on prevention and treatment. It shows the complexity of the disease and the process involved in which led physicians to discover the most beneficial and successful treatment for cancer commonly found in women. These treatments as stated, “The cure for breast cancer was radical surgery and the more radical the better”[1] were challenging for woman to accept. The author examines the difficulty of accepting this diagnosis and consequently dealing with such a radical treatment. In contrast, Mandy Hadenko’s article, “The Challenge of Developing and Publicizing Cervical Cancer Screening Programs: A Canadian Perspective” discusses how proactive women were in being screened. However, this take charge attitude towards screening was not until the latter of the century. Before the 1960s both articles show the reluctance women experienced, if women felt healthy there was no need to be scanned which had cost money at the time and as mentioned in Mitchinson’s article, not everyone had the funds in order to seek health care frequently.[2] This article primarily shines light on women being proactive and taking action in seeking early detection in order to prevent and treat the disease. Similar to Mithcinson’s article, it also incorporates the progression of knowledge regarding cervical cancer in the latter half of the century. Hadenko’s article shows the importance of educating society on harmful diseases however, also discusses the challenges of publically spreading the information and the fact that these types of things take time.
Richelle Miele and Juanne Clarke’s article, “’We Remain Very Much the Second Sex’: The Constructions of Prostate Cancer in Popular New Magazines, 2000-2010” focuses on health inequalities between males and females. This article discusses how men have an increased health risks due to attitudes or “habits”[3] associated with masculinity. For example, being seen as “tough”[4] in society leads to the reluctance to seek medical attention. Similar to the two articles above, fear remains a factor for getting screened in males as it was shown for the female population when dealing with breast or cervical cancer. As stated in Miele and Clarke’s article, “Prostate cancer is constructed as a direct threat to masculinity and manhood.”[5] This leads males to make poor health decisions based on their gender, which is equally problematic in early detection and successful treatment. This article examines the implications and impact that media can have on the portrayal of the masculine figure compared to the feminine. It reiterates how these create inequalities such as allowing for emotional reactions versus a stoic reaction in the men. This association of masculinity and strength causes men to not seek screening and treatment due to the potential side effects such as impotence which could lead to feelings of inadequacies. All three articles address the fear that cancer diagnosis cause for males and females and the problems in not seeking early detection.
Patricia Jasen’s article “Malignant Histories: Psychosomatic Medicine and the Female Cancer Patient in the Postwar Era” has a broader range of issues it addresses in regards to cancer, such as culture, class, gender inequalities, and the psychological and emotional toll. The studies in the article not only encompassed cervical cancer, breast cancer and prostate, it also included ones on lymphomas and leukemia.[6] It then delved into the psychological impacts such as post war survivors and other emotional tolls that are connected to health. It also provides the connection of behaviour and health as stated, “As was the case in many of these studies, sexual behavior was explained as a function of personality rather than social circumstances, and no acknowledgement was made of the growing recognition of a physiological connection between cervical cancer and early sexual contact.”[7] This provides yet another aspect of the different research conducted to connect cancer to one’s previous life events. This article does include far too many topics and tangents that is overwhelming to the reader to follow.
The chapter by Edward Shorter “The Asylum Era” provides insight on the history of asylums and the causation of their closure. It examines the reason asylums were built and opened in order to segregate those affected from society. It does examine some of the positive impacts, such as the tight knit groups that formed as a result of being so isolated from the community. Another positive impact on patients was Jacobi, who helped motivate other physicians and worked one on one with patients in order to help them improve. He implemented “keeping patients physically active and busy.”[8] However, it reveals how the mentally ill were segregated from the community whether it was necessary or not. For example, some patients were admitted into an asylum because they had a drinking problem and were deemed ‘mentally ill’. This over admissions of patients was also what led to closures of the asylums. The volume of patients caused problems with funding and keeping up to the demands which were a few causes of the closures of asylums. This chapter is beneficial to my research project because it gives perspective of asylums in many countries which is helpful to compare to the Canadian asylums.
Bibliography:
Hadenko, Mandy, “The Challenge of Developing and Publicizing Cervical Screening Programs: A Canadian Perspective,” in Cheryl Krasnick Warsh (Ed), Gender, Health and Popular Culture: Historical Perspectives, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2011: 127 152.
Jasen, Patricia, “Malignant Histories: Psychosomatic Medicine and the Female Cancer Patient in the Postwar Era,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 20, 2 (2003): 265-297.
Miele, Richelle and Juanne Clarke, “‘We Remain Very Much the Second Sex’: The Constructions of Prostate Cancer in Popular News Magazines, 2000-2010,” American Journal of Men’s Health, 8, 1 (2014): 15-25.
Mitchinson, Wendy, “The Womanly Body: A Cancer Threat,” in Body Failure: Medical Views of Women, 1900-1950, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013: 215-238.
Shorter, Edward, “The Asylum Era.” In A History of Psychiatry: From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1997.
Endnotes:
[1] Mitchinson, Wendy, “The Womanly Body: A Cancer Threat,” in Body Failure: Medical Views of Women, 1900-1950, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 235.
[2] Hadenko, Mandy, “The Challenge of Developing and Publicizing Cervical Screening Programs: A Canadian Perspective,” in Cheryl Krasnick Warsh (Ed), Gender, Health and Popular Culture: Historical Perspectives, (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2011).
[3] Miele, Richelle and Juanne Clarke, “‘We Remain Very Much the Second Sex’: The Constructions of Prostate Cancer in Popular News Magazines, 2000-2010,” American Journal of Men’s Health, 8, 1 (2014): 16.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Patricia Jasen, “Malignant Histories: Psychosomatic Medicine and the Female Cancer Patient in the Postwar Era,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 20, 2 (2003): 281.
[7] Ibid, 276.
[8] Edward Shorter, “The Asylum Era,” In A History of Psychiatry: From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1997), 38.
