The biomedicalization of women's lives: A review of its dimensions from publications in Spanish

Abstract

Biomedicalization is a phenomenon that involves the intervention of biomedical knowledge and technologies in more and more aspects of life, increasing its jurisdiction from disease to health, and today, in the management of bodies and lives. In order to explain the complexity of this phenomenon, the article focuses on dissecting biomedicalization in different dimensions: biologicism, pathologization, use of treatments and health control. Biomedicalization has not been a homogeneous process, occurring similarly to any condition, any group and any place. An approach focused on women shows how this process affects to some conditions in their lives, such as menstruation, menopause, fertility, sexuality, childbirth, lactation, body, mental health and violence. To this end, the article provides some key works in Spanish State.