This extract from a longer piece of writing was written in 2016, before the explosion of the insistence on gender neutral language specifically in relation to female bodies and female bodily functions and experiences. Yesterday I posted about how gender-neutral language is officially infiltrating our cultural narrative and is being institutionalised particularly within medical literature. I am interested in considering the implications of this beyond linguistics.
“According to the Western medical model, pre-menstrual syndrome is a disease, menstruation is a disease, pregnancy is a disease, childbirth is a disease, and menopause is a disease. From this model, I have reached the conclusion that being a woman is a disease.”
Quote from Women’s Health Advocate Sibyl Shainwald
Part 6 of The Red Death considers the pathologizing of female biology and also touches upon how women’s bodies, due to being pathologized are big business for pharmaceutical companies.