Undoing Medical Conditioning

This article, written by Melanie Conn and Rebecca Fox for Healthsharing (Fall 1980), and reproduced by the Vancouver Women's Health Collective (VWHC), identifies different aspects of medical conditioning that affects women's health. For instance, the belief in the absolute truth of scientific research, the authority of doctors, the use of screening as preventative health care, the dependence on drugs to 'cure' symptoms and illness quickly, and the isolation of health care to illness-identification. Conn and Fox suggest that the women's health movement has encouraged women to seek out and practice self-help practices, holistic therapies, community-based health and support, and self-knowledge (which demystifies women's bodies).