Today on the Times’ “Well” blog: new research indicates that running with a sharp implement may raise the risk of stabbing injuries.
I was going to start a post like that a while ago, but I was waiting for the perfect moment. Maybe blogger Tara Parker-Pope would discover a study showing that college-age binge drinkers who use social networking sites are less likely than their peers to eat five servings a week of cruciferous vegetables.
But then something strange happened. Parker-Pope started listening to her readers. They were sick of being patronized by arrogant doctors. They distrusted both the pharmaceutical industry and touters of natural remedies. The women were annoyed by draconian pregnancy recommendations with little basis in science and by having their medical problems dismissed as stress-induced.
Parker-Pope was completely taken aback by the reader reaction to a story about prescription drug sharing among friends that heavily emphasized the supposed dangers when women of childbearing age engage in the practice. “I am tired of being thought of only as a breeding machine who should be regarded as ‘pre-pregnant’ at all times. I am tired of having my assurances that I cannot possibly be pregnant overridden by patronizing doctors who assume I can’t know my own body or habits. More relevantly, I refuse to be told what I should and shouldn’t do based on a slight potential risk to a hypothetical unplanned pregnancy,” wrote one. “Women are infantilized by policies within the healthcare system regarding their potential fecundity,” another posted. Instead of using her mainstream media shield to ignore the hoi polloi, Parker-Pope posted a follow-up, “Do Doctors View Women as ‘Pre-Pregnant’?” Since then, she’s also done a whole series on doctor-patient interactions, precipitated, no doubt, by the health care horror stories posted by her readers.
The lazy, credulous, uninformed public for which most health journalists seem to write was replaced by smart, savvy real people with individual concerns and legitimate grievances against the health care system. These real people didn’t need yet another source for exercise-and-eat-your-kale conventional wisdom. And someone in the mainstream media finally listened to them.
David Boyle | 16-Dec-08 at 2:13 am | Permalink
Sheesh! What are you, some kind of Angry Activist??
the regretter | 26-Dec-08 at 3:01 am | Permalink
Interestingly, (as a male) I’ve had recent medical treatment which seems focussed on the notion that a patient is supposed to be primarily an agent of procreation.
Last year, troubled by lower back pain (I suspected a high school injury) I sought out a specialist. “My back is killing me,” I told him.
“Do you have any children?”
“No.”
“Let’s hold off on this, then. X-rays might fry your nards.” [my gloss.]
One problem here is the model of diagnosis (do I really need x-rays to treat my back?)
Another is the notion that one’s role–regardless of gender– is thought by some practitioners to be most importantly propagation of the species.
So, as with most gripes about oppression of women, the real impetus I suspect here is a better organized front for griping, which women undoubtedly have– kudos.