Women's Health : Psychological and Social Perspectives

`This will be a useful source book for health psychology students and those in health professions who are interested in a social and feminist approach to health′ - British Journal of Health Psychology

`Women′s Health: Psychological and Social Perspectives has a great deal to offer students, academics and practitioners in health and clinical psychology, as well as people working in women′s studies, sociology, and social work. It is a thought-provoking text which left me feeling invigorated about carrying out research in this field. Furthermore, it demonstrates how valuable feminist, social constructionist approaches are in identifying those social and cultural factors that influence women′s lives, women′s health, and more broadly, research into these topics.′ - Journal of Health Psychology

What is `women′s health′, and what are the issues of women′s health beyond the obstetric and the gynaecological? This wide-ranging book - the first volume in the new Behaviour and Health series - surveys the social and cultural influences on women, focusing on the ways these impact on their health. It looks at the social construction of gender and, from a psychological point of view, the unique aspects of women′s health which are affected by social roles, and not just biology.

Women′s Health is organized around restrictive social myths about women: women at the mercy of their hormones; the myth of the maternal instinct; the assumption that it is `natural′ for women to carry out the majority of unpaid domestic labour and family care; and women as stereotypes conforming to images of youth, beauty and sexual availability to men. Drawing on research from a wide range of countries, non-western perspectives are included wherever possible. Each chapter includes a review of the psychological literature and relates it to feminist perspectives.