Medicalization of the Female Body - Assignment Example

ment Based on and using examples from your required readings, critically discuss the medicalization of the menstrual cycle. Include an analysis of the consequences of medicalization on women’s sense of well-being. It has long been considered that menstruation is part of a woman’s life, a thought that is both culturally and scientifically accepted. However, just as the thought that women’s menstruation can be controlled and which gives some women to consider it as just an optional feature, cultural upheaval suddenly bursts, calling science to take the center stage in finding evidences (Lianne, 2014, p.1). As technologies progress and science-based approaches in finding evidences prior to decision making increase, some women experiencing monthly menstrual cycle are holding on to the hope of becoming finally free from the discomforts linked to menstruation. At last, it was found that menstruation can be controlled, and just like how the principle of taking a pregnancy pill works, women can also suppress the natural menstrual blood flow each month. However, there are prevailing concerns on this; especially on the issue of how “natural” is this approach prior to finally seeing women taking it into great account (Thomas & Ellertson, 2000, p.923). Concerning this, the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research (2007) argued that menstruation is not a disease; hence, it should not be suppressed to flow naturally in the woman’s healthy life. The medicalization of the menstrual cycle is both beneficial and might be destructive at some point. It is beneficial when the act itself is done in order to correct a defective menstrual cycle. However, if its primary aim is to suppress the natural menstrual cycle of a woman, then it is another story. The impact of medicalization of menstrual cycle on women’s sense of well-being is a great point to consider. In the first place, it is natural for a woman to undergo a menstrual cycle each month. This is significantly true to almost all healthy with mature reproductive potential women or girls around the world. Suppressing it therefore does not make sense. Estrogen and progesterone hormones are essential actors for this phenomenon to take place. However, these hormones are also important for the proper functioning of a women’s physical body. In fact, the lack of these hormones leads to some women on their menopausal stage to experience various discomforts, physical, emotional and psychological (Love, 2000; Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, 2007). Therefore, it does not make sense to suppress a woman menstrual cycle because it is not a disease, but with a certain purpose to accomplish in the women’s healthy bodily functioning. Women are different from men. They have ovaries that perform a crucial function for the preservation of life in this world. This only means that suppressing their menstrual cycle is just a way of leading them to the way of impotency, and even squelching them to function in a natural way. Why? Women’s uterus is like a vessel that would sooner contain life. From the start, the moment they entered into adult stage of life, their reproductive organs started to do their vital functions. This means that menstrual cycle is a normal experience among women and should not be eradicated, even if there are associated discomforts with it at certain level. On the other hand, there are various unknowns as to the point of suppressing the woman’s menstrual cycle. These unknowns are not to be feared, but due to their nature of being unpredictable, uncertainties may substantially prevail. There are quite danger in uncertainties, because at some point, they may just lead to poor decisions and eventually failures or troubles. Statement 2: Imagine you are counseling a woman, who is in her middle years, about the advantages and disadvantages of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). What advice would you provide and why? Ensure that any advice you give is based on sound science. Series of monthly periods is not just the only issue that common women should experience in their entire life. A great challenge would still to come right after they would enter their middle years. It is called menopausal. A woman in menopausal stage lacks estrogen hormone, which may potentially cause her various physical, psychological and emotional changes (Love & Prior, 2000). To suppress the discomforts associated with menopausal, various options for a treatment prevail. The Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in general is designed to finally address the discomforts that are caused by the symptoms of menopausal among middle-aged women around the world (Blackwell, 2001, p.1632). Finally, this might be good news to some women. Despite the popularity of Hormone Therapy (HT) from 1920s to 2006, the concern on whether this treatment is beneficial to women or its risks may just outweigh small amount of benefits goes on, allowing the Women’s Health Initiative to search the information and find for a reasonable conclusion on the issue (Schulkin, 2008, p.73). The organization finally found, based on scientific evidences they gathered that HT could not be a guarantee to provide women the opportunity to experience the idea of becoming a “feminine forever”. However, large-scale studies including those coming from the Pharmaceutical companies are providing evidences that there are advantages for Hormone Therapy (HT) for women, but in the process of making this technology known to the world, women are primarily used as viable objects primarily for promotional activities (Schulkin, 2008, 74). In other words, I have to provide all of these to the woman who is in her middle years. I will give her a chance to weigh things. In this case, she must be able to consider HRT as a significant choice. I will not force her to go with it, but as concisely as possible, I will explain to her the pros and cons of this medical practice. I will even provide her various evidences telling both its advantages and disadvantages and as to what purpose HRT has finally come to its inception. It is important that I have to consider things that are grounded by science, so it makes sense that those various evidences should be greatly considered. For instance, it is important to discuss the concept of estrogen hormone and what purpose it gives to the woman’s body. I will ensure in my explanation that this hormone, based on observation that as a woman aged, the amount of this hormone generally declines, and this literally happens to all women. Every woman, who is physically healthy in their middle years are found to experience this (Love & Prior, 2000). It makes sense to point out that on the aging women’s physical structure, giving birth may not be a good idea. Thus, having an estrogen hormone of great amount which has a great role in ensuring conception might sound not so viable for a woman who is at her middle years. In other words, as far as the natural process is concerned, women in every walk of life should consider the fact that bodily changes, those inside and out should literally go with age. This is the reality of life. References Blackwell, A. (2001). HRT is for women who go mad at the menopause. The Lancet, 357, 1632. Lianne, G. (2014). The end of menstruation. Report Information from ProQuest. Love, S., & Prior, J. (2000). The perimenopause puzzle. From Susan LoveMD “Live Chat” Archives. Reprinted with permission. Schulkin, J. (2008). Hormone Therapy, Dilemmas, Medical Decisions. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, 73-88. Society for Menstrual Cycle Research (2007). New medications target menstrual suppression for healthy women and girls: “Menstruation is not a disease” say leading researchers. Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, 10(1). Thomas, L. S., & Ellertson, C. (2000). Nuisance or natural and healthy: should monthly menstruation be optional for women? The Lancet, 355, 922-924. Read More