9.1 Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives
In this chapter, we will discuss what it means to be healthy both on the individual and institutional levels. Accessing healthcare is not easy for everyone. Barriers to healthcare access may be financial or physical, such as a long distance to the nearest hospital. For some groups in society, more discreet barriers exist, such as stigma about what you look like or about your gender identity. That struggle is intensified for transgender individuals.
Here is a story about a transgender man’s journey to parenthood in figure 9.1. Throughout his life Freddy internally connected to being female and started the process of transitioning from female to male in early adulthood. Although he transitioned his physical identity from a female to male, he wanted to have a baby, which meant reversing some of the measures he had taken on his transition journey.
As a thought exercise while you watch Freddy’s pregnancy and path to parenthood, keep in mind the concepts of sex and gender. Consider ways in which the sociological concepts of sex and gender are differently connected to healthcare issues such as pregnancy and childbirth. If you were a healthcare professional how could you assist Freddy through his journey to parenthood both physically and emotionally?
Figure 9. 1 Trans and pregnant: The dad who gave birth – BBC Stories.
We will also look through the sociological lens at a person’s legal and physical ability to regulate their own health, including pregnancy and childbirth. We will also learn about different types of violence in healthcare.
9.1.1 Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will be able to:
- Summarize the process of gender socialization inside healthcare institutions.
- Define health from a sociological perspective.
- Explain how medicalization creates the conditions of the healthcare system.
- Discuss the significance of mostly White, cis men controlling access to abortion and medicalizing pregnancy and childbirth.
- Examine four forms of violence commonly experienced by people seeking access to healthcare.
- Outline four interventions for social change in healthcare through the doula and midwifery movements, access to mental health care for people of color, and gender-affirming medical care.
9.1.2 Preview of Key Terms
Introduce your list of key terms with a sentence or two. Key terms should be alphabetized and be identified within the text in bold text accompanied by a definition. Limit yourself to 15–20 key terms (or approximately 1–2 per page). Review these best practices for writing definitions.
- eugenics: the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics ) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics ). (Dictionary.com N.d.)
- forced sterilization: the practice of forcibly preventing people from becoming pregnant or impregnating someone.
- life expectancy: the amount of time an individual is expected to live.
- medicalization: the process by which previously normal aspects of life are redefined as deviant and needing medical attention to remedy.
- mortality rate: the rate of deaths in a population over a year expressed per 1000.
- sick role: the expected patterns of behavior attached to individuals who are sick and those that take care of them.
9.1.3 Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives
Figure 9.1. “Trans and pregnant: The dad who gave birth” by BBC Stories is licensed under the Standard YouTube License.
“Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives” by Jane Forbes is licensed under CC BY 4.0.