Search results
1 – 2 of 2This chapter uses a feminist social construction argument to question the use of sex categories in biomedical research. It is argued that dichotomous sex categories reflect social…
Abstract
This chapter uses a feminist social construction argument to question the use of sex categories in biomedical research. It is argued that dichotomous sex categories reflect social pressures to categorize and create difference, gender, as much or more than physical sex characteristics in bodies. Because a dichotomous categorization scheme is overlayed on a continuous physical phenomenon contradictions appear when sexual artifacts like hormones, genitalia, sexuality, sexual activity, and reproduction are attributed with causal status either in causing/curing, increasing/decreasing risk. The implications of this argument are illustrated using a content analysis of medical writing about cancer since 1900. Implications for definition of women's health and pan-sex biomedical research are discussed.