Women's Studies 2162A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Morphine

• School: Western University
• Department: Women's Studies
• Course: Women's Studies 2162A/B
• Professor: Rachael Pack

Document Summary

Medicalization- the process by which human conditions and problems come to be defined and treated as medical conditions, and thus become the subject of medical study, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment. Medicine is not just a scientific enterprise, it"s a social one. Then white women started getting pregnant out of wedlock all the time. They were seen as sick, they needed help to get back to good girls. This didn"t apply to black women, they were still bad girls. The cause of teen pregnancy is that birth control was inaccessible. White people who commit violent acts- focus on what mental illness they have. Poc who commit violent acts- immediately labelled terrorists. Transformation of social problems into sickness are not gender neutral. Vast majority of opioid users in 19th and 20th century were rich white women. How are these women supposed to maintain their privilege is they partake in deviant behaviour.