Medicine And The Family: A Feminist Perspective (Families and Health)

For centuries, traditional medicine has been infused with a masculine bias, often to the disadvantage of both doctors and patients. In this compelling book, Lucy M. Candib challenges prevailing views and offers a family-oriented feminist approach to the practice of medicine. Drawing on her twenty years of experience as a family doctor, the author systematically dissects the assumptions underlying current teachings about child and adult development, sexual abuse, the family life cycle, and family systems. She exposes the ways in which women are often ignored, subordinated, or blamed in the modern medical system. For example, she notes that women are often held solely responsible for all problems in their families, including child abuse and battering.Candib then reexamines the doctor-patient relationship from a feminist perspective, showing how ”doctors-in-relation” allow caring to take center stage in clinical work, in contrast to the traditional medical emphasis on rationality and objectivity. By putting caring at the forefront, both caregivers and patients can begin to think about power in a new way, and to see the clinical relationship as healing and empowering, rather than unequal and combative.Powerfully argued and generously illustrated with case examples, this book is certain to change the terms of debate about such critical issues as medical education, family violence, and care of the poor and elderly. With its superb integration of feminist theory and modern medical thought, this book is ideal for physicians, nurses, social workers, and all mental health professionals who work with families. Read more