Week 6

I noticed a lot of similarities between the medicalization of queerness and the attribution of it to a mental deficiency or issue and the attribution of many woman-based medical issues or anatomical features to mental illness or hypochondria. In fact, the quote at the very beginning of the Lewis paper is from a queer, feminist magazine and echoes the sentiments of the queer community in how they were treated by the psychiatric community. Also similarly to the queer community, feminist response to the marginal progress within the medical/gynecological community can be similar to the queer response to homosexuality being removed from the DSM: "a less laudatory temperament: an outpouring of sarcasm and indifference" (84).

I find this to be an extremely understandable viewpoint. Activist change is at the forefront of progress, with individuals working tirelessly and often times without pay or reward in order to further their movement, and larger entities making minute changes off of the backs of activists undermines their efforts and does little to help. This article about a Netflix documentary, The Bleeding Edge, highlights a few medical technologies that did not prioritize women in their creation, also neglecting to listen to women at FDA hearings after the products caused so much harm that they needed to be black boxed. The women that worked to bring attention to one product in particular -- Essure, a form of permanent birth control -- did so while suffering the side effects, being gaslit by medical and legal professionals, and having to figure out themselves what would get them listened to for their own safety and the safety of other women. When a powerful entity with the ability to make significant change steps in and uses individuals' efforts and experiences without consulting them directly or bringing them into the process, the activists' efforts and struggle is demeaned.