Undoing gender? The case of complementary and alternative medicine

Abstract

Despite a rich body of sociological research that examines the relationship between gender and health, scholars have paid little attention to the case of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). One recent study (Sointu 2011) posits that men and women who use CAM challenge traditional ascriptions of femininity and masculinity through the exploration of self-care and emotions, respectively. Drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with middle-class Americans who use CAM, this article instead finds that men and women interpret their CAM use in ways that reproduce traditional gendered identities. Men frame their CAM use in terms of science and rationality, while simultaneously distancing themselves from feminine-coded components of CAM, such as emotions. Women seek CAM for problems such as abusive relationships, low self-esteem, and body image concerns, and frame their CAM use as a quest for self-reinvention that largely reflects and reproduces conventional femininity. Further, the reproduction of gendered identities is shaped by the participants' embrace of neoliberal tenets, such as the cultivation of personal control. This article contributes to ongoing theoretical debates about the doing, redoing and undoing of gender, as well as the literature on health and gender.

‘Fat girls’ and ‘big guys’: gendered meanings of weight loss surgery

“…), as well as by the presence or absence of a female spouse (McEvoy and Richardson ). Considering the association of weight loss and WLS with femininity, these men may have attributed the decision to undergo WLS to their wives as a way of establishing a credible masculine identity (Courtenay ), as also noted in a study of women and men's use of complementary and alternative medicine (Brenton and Elliott ). As Robertson and Monaghan (: 154) write, ‘many men may be “giving over” responsibility for their health to female partners or relatives in a manner that confirms and maintains the traditional gender roles of both’.…”

“…However, self‐care is strongly coded as a feminine project. While women are able to draw on their emotions to account for their pursuit of self‐transformation through WLS, men are expected to distance themselves from the emotional aspects of self‐care (Brenton and Elliott ).…”

A Postmarket Surveillance Study on Electro‐Neuro‐Adaptive‐Regulator Therapy

“…Similarly, in Australia, a 2007 survey found that CAM use was more common among females, yet in a lower (18–35 years) age bracket [11]. Women comprised almost 70% of the sample and are known to seek CAM therapy for a wider range of problems than do men [12]. …”

Hope is a four‐letter word: riding the emotional rollercoaster of illness management

“…). Even patients seeking non‐traditional forms of care often wind up reproducing gendered identities by striving for ideals like personal control (Brenton and Elliott ), which while not exclusively a neoliberal idea remains a central element of the ideology. In addition to being gendered (Williams ), these values are inherently raced and classed (Melamed ).…”

“…I also still tend to 'cope' with more difficult aspects of illness management by reinforcing ideals of independence and personal responsibility, which represent core themes in neoliberalism (see Lareau 2003, Schwalbe et al 2000. Even patients seeking non-traditional forms of care often wind up reproducing gendered identities by striving for ideals like personal control (Brenton and Elliott 2014), which while not exclusively a neoliberal idea remains a central element of the ideology. In addition to being gendered (Williams 2013), these values are inherently raced and classed (Melamed 2006).…”