The Medical Gaze: Medical Models, Power, and Women's Health

Authors

  • Deborah Findlay Dalhousie University

Abstract

This paper analyzes the development and interconnections between two medical paradigms, the biomedical and the ecological/psychosocial. Each model shapes differing forms of medical power over women's bodies. The biomedical model relies on science for its status, power, and medical domination, while the ecological/psychosocial model stresses regulation and surveillance of women's healthy bodies. This paper discusses the theoretical importance of these medical paradigms and their effects on women's obstetric and gynecologic health. It concludes by evaluating the contemporary significance of medical gazes for women's health care.

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Original Research