Academic literature on the topic 'Sexuality, reproduction, health, social movement'

Abstract In many African societies today Christian churches, Pentecostals in particular, are an important source of information on sexuality, relationships, the body, and health, motivated in part by the HIV/AIDS pandemic but also related to globally circulating ideas and images that make people rethink gender relations and identities through the lens of ‘romantic love’. Contextualizing the contemporary situation in the history of Christian movements in Africa, and by applying Foucault’s notion of heterotopia, this introduction and the subsequent papers show that Christian doctrines and practices are creating social spaces of altering relational ethics, identities and gender roles that appeal especially to upwardly mobile women.

Since contraceptives have been used to remove fertility from the conjugal act, the social consequences predicted in the encyclical Humanae vitae, such as the rise in cohabitation, decline of marriage, rise of divorce, and single parenthood, have exceeded expectations. The degradation of the sexual act from total mutual self-giving to momentary union has led to doubting the significance of the biological truth of the body and opened the door to gender fluidity. Promiscuity became normative, and the need for consent became eroded until women revolted with the #MeToo movement. Promiscuity, cohabitation, and divorce have resulted in 40 percent of children born to unmarried parents whose tenuous unions often leave the children in melded and dysfunctional families. Relation-free “hookups” have become the norm among young adults, leaving a flood of emotionally damaged women, an epidemic of sexually transmitted infections, and unplanned pregnancies, to which the healthcare industry has responded by doubling down on the means which caused the problem in the first place with near-coercive promotion of long-acting, reversible contraceptives (LARCs). LARCs must be inserted and removed professionally and make reproductive choice moot. Respecting the truth of the body is the precise counter measure. A woman’s cyclic fertility is easily observed with reliable biomarkers—natural family planning—which requires the whole person. Fertility awareness–based methods of family planning have no side effects, are easy to learn, and can be used to achieve as well as delay conception. The self-discovery inherent in learning fertility literacy has empowered adolescent girls and boys to understand and value their sexuality and fertility and avoid choosing harmful behaviors. Why does society continue to treat fertility as if it were a disease? Summary: Removing the idea of pregnancy from the sexual act as the result of readily available contraception has effectively limited choices about sexual behavior to the satisfaction of momentary desires. As Humanae vitae predicted, fewer marriages were contracted, divorce increased and now 40% of children are born out of wedlock despite extensive public education campaigns to promote contraception. Side effects of the hormonal pill have reduced their use so health care professionals have doubled down, providing long acting contraceptives which do not require the user to exercise choice before each act of intercourse, or of taking a pill. There is a much better way to regulate births–to learn to read the book of nature. Fertility is not a disease to be removed from the body. All that is needed is to understand the natural signs of fertility–natural family planning, now called FABM–Fertility Awareness-Based Methods. These have no side effects, enhance couple communication and offer effective choice for child spacing and demonstrably support premarital chastity for teens.

Abstract Specific developments in reproductive health occurred in Eastern Europe, especially in the second half of the twentieth century. During state socialism, it was experts, not social movements, who furthered the agenda of women’s health and sexuality. New analyses from the region and written mostly by authors who speak the local languages attest to the wealth of histories, highlighting different timelines of reproductive health developments, the unexpected causes behind them, and the social actors and institutions which played decisive roles.

The representative survey results - made in 2001 and includes 1000 women aged 20 and 39 years - confirmed that the diffusion of conservative birth control in which the use of coitus interruptus dominates and the consequential resort of induce abortion in cases of pregnancies which are unwanted or cannot be accepted is the main reproductive health problem of the Montenegro population. The traditional birth control methods are very much incorporated in the system of values, considered a natural part of sexual intercourse, and therefore seen to be a rational choice. These facts open a number of questions, among which the most important one is why women are not relying on modern contraceptive methods and means? Research findings discover a complex array of factors, including a belief that modern contraceptive methods are harmful to health and a number of psychological barriers, also those arising from relationships with partners. On the other hand, the initial hypothesis that sexually transmitted diseases are one of the problems of the reproductive health of the population of Montenegro was not confirmed. However, it seems that the obtained data on this subject are not realistic having in mind not only the delicacy of the questions but also the specificity of the general conditions including all accompanying changes of the economic system transition, openness for challenges of the modern way of life and great movements of the population. In contrast to the dilemma, though, regarding the widely distributed sexually transmitted diseases, the research results indicated that infertility, primary and secondary, is not widespread and that it certainly is not considered as one of the problems of the reproductive health of the population of Montenegro.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how school-based sexuality education has had a long and troubled history of exclusionary pedagogical practices that have negatively affected such populations as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer (LGBTQ) individuals, people of color, and the disabled. The social ecological model is introduced as a way of offering sexuality educators and school administrators a way of thinking more broadly about how to achieve sexual health through sexuality education efforts inside and outside of the school environment. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses critical analysis of current and historical school-based sexuality education methods and curricula used in the USA. Authors use both academic journals and their own expertise/experience teaching sexuality education in the USA to analyze and critique the sources of sexuality education information and curricula used in schools. Findings – Historically, sexuality education in school settings in the USA has been biased and has generally not offered an educational experience fostering sexual health for all students. There are now welcome signs of reform and movement toward a more inclusive and progressive approach, but there is still some way to go. Sexuality education programs in schools need to be further and fundamentally reformed to do more to foster sexual health particularly for LGBTQ individuals, students of color, and people with disabilities. Practical implications – This paper offers sexuality educators ways of addressing structural issues within the sexuality education curriculum to better serve all students to increase the quality of their sexual health. Integrating critical pedagogy and anti-oppressive education can increase students’ sexual health along physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions. Originality/value – This paper provides historical analysis along with the identification of structural difficulties in the sexuality education curriculum and proposes both critical pedagogy and anti-oppressive education as ways of addressing sex and relationships education.

The power or knowledge relations determine sexuality as a discourse. How understanding and practicing sex is the negotiation of knowledges and interests. It also happens in producing discourse of sexuality to adolescence. The social construction of adolescence as social category that is apolitical, hedonic, passive and uncritical brings them to be the older people’s object of socialization and education about morality. Different social institutions, such as school, family, religion, government, and also media attempt to subjugate adolescense’ passion in the name of sex education. This research has revealed on how the discourse of sexuality becomes arena where interests of some institutuions involved are contesting. Hai magazine is chosen as locus since this magazine has existed more than three decades and presented sex education as the material in its publication. Using Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, this research has explored the discourse of sexuality as the result of negotiation of the discourse of sex sacralization brought by social and religion norms, the idea of global sexual revolution, and the perspective of health reproduction. It becomes Hai’s survival strategy in economy, social and political context.

Sexual and Reproductive health rights are key human rights instruments. Since last few decades, sexual and reproductive health and rights has been recognized as a major topic in the international health and development agenda. Sexual and reproductive rights of women became recognized as universal human rights in 1994, violations of which happen in some reproductive health areas including gender concern. But in the developing countries like ours, patriarchal society rooted deeply that male control over women's mobility, sexuality and reproduction. Men’s control over women’s mobility like imposition of Parda, restriction on leaving domestic space, strict separation of public and private space and limits on interaction between the sexes. Male controls over women’s sexuality like women are obliged to provide sexual services to their men when they desire, the legal and moral values restrict women’s sexuality outside marriage, men may force their women in sex trade. Even in reproduction male control over them. Men also control over women’s reproductive power in many societies by no freedom to decide how many children they want and when, cannot decide to use the contraceptive or terminate the pregnancy. In most of the South Asian countries women are forced to give birth to a son or her place is not secured so she is compelled to give several births if she cannot produce son. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are important rights in themselves, but can also greatly enhance possibilities for empowering girls and women and for achieving gender equality. Reproductive health stresses people rights to sexuality, reproduction, and family planning, and the information to actualize these rights, which has been inseparably linked to development. We examine how sexual and reproductive health and rights interventions can have positive and lasting impacts not only on the health outcomes of girls and women, but can also enable women’s access to opportunities across social, economic and political life. Many efforts had been done in these issues nationally and internationally.

Sexuality represents one of the basic dimensions of human existence, which is channelled through sexual and gender identification and role, sexual orientation, eroticism, emotional commitment, satisfaction, and reproduction. Sexuality is also linked to many significant health problems, especially in the area of reproductive and sexual health. Sexual health is the condition of physical, emotional, mental, and social wellbeing that is linked with sexuality. Knowledge about sexual health, contraception and selection of contraceptives, and the risk of sexually transmittable diseases is not only relevant for individuals? sexuality; it?s also important for encouraging the use of health services and other forms of support that are necessary to protect youth from sexually transmittable diseases and the maintenance of sexual and re-productive health. When it comes to sexuality and care of reproductive and sexual health, some groups are especially vulnerable. Bearing in mind the specific conditions women with disabilities grow up in and their dependence on assistance and support from other people, satisfying their needs for partnership, sexuality, and parenthood becomes unattainable for many, or it takes place under the control of professionals or family members. In this context, people with visual impairments are part of a vulnerable group, acknowledging that visual impairment leads to limitations in everyday life, autonomy, and quality of life to its full potential. The purpose of this article is to describe the phenomena of sexuality and sexual health among people with visual impairments, and to point out the existing international and national normative frameworks relevant to the sexual health of people with disabilities. Existing legislative acts acknowledge the right to a normal sexual life, as well as to the care and maintenance of the sexual health of people with disabilities. However, there are many obstacles and limitations that hamper the practical application of these rights: health issues, communication problems, lack of privacy, people?s acceptance of the inhibition of their own sexuality, or their acceptance of the labelling and normalisation of their situation. Even considering the existence of the regulation, the system of support for maintaining and improving the sexual and reproductive health of women with disabilities is not developed enough. The lack of literature relating to this topic shows that its importance is not recognised enough among the relevant actors, including organisations that advocate for people with disabilities. Realising the existing general legal framework requires the will of policymakers, who could enact and implement specific bylaw regulations, as well as activating the societal actors relevant to this field.

The thesis presents a study of family planning policies in Mexico, Merida, in the state of Yucatan. The family planning policies are analyzed from two major perspectives: on population intended as fertility control of the population and that of the sexual and reprodcutive right. Starting from the analysis of the "field of contraception," the thesis will be a critical study on the ways in which sexuality and reproduction are defined, negotiated and lived. Reproduction appears to be involved in a dynamic process, influenced by cultural mechanisms, social, political and material inscribed into "local moral worlds" (Kleinman, 1999; Das, 1998 e 1999), and at the same time, influenced by relationship, strategies and global models (Biehl – Petryna, 2013). The agents of the field examined during the research are varied: institutionals, economics, socials, and the individual subjects with their lives. This field of action, however, is not only expressed in the dynamics of power relations in which the effects of domain are total but never completely stable (Foucault, 1984). The field is also expressed in the production of a discourse that legitimizes and supports models, visions and individual choices. Reproduction and sexuality within my work are not considered only as intimate spheres of human inscribed in the order of social, but are analyzed in their public and institutional aspects. These categories are investigated, in the thesis, starting from the form in which they are physically held and processed on the level of discourse in state hospitals and other social spaces (Pro-Life and Pro-Choice movement).

O conceito de saúde sexual e reprodutiva (SSR) ganha visibilidade na década de 1990, marcada por ativismo social e pela IV Conferência Internacional sobre População e Desenvolvimento e a IV Conferência Internacional sobre Mulheres, que afirmam a atenção primária à saúde (APS) como prioritária. No Brasil, a APS é considerada estratégica para efetivar políticas de SSR no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). Com o objetivo de avaliar a implementação de ações de SSR em serviços de APS, no SUS, no estado de São Paulo (SP), foi desenvolvida avaliação que adota a teoria do trabalho em saúde e a integralidade como referenciais, e utiliza banco de respostas de 2735 serviços ao questionário QualiAB - Avaliação da qualidade da Atenção Básica em Municípios de SP, em 2010. Construiu-se um modelo teórico da avaliação de práticas de SSR na APS - compreendendo os domínios promoção à SSR, prevenção e assistência às doenças sexualmente transmissíveis (DST)/aids, e atenção à saúde reprodutiva, com 25, 43 e 31 indicadores, respectivamente. As respostas dos serviços apontam: pré-natal com início e exames adequados, melhor organização para puerpério imediato do que tardio, planejamento reprodutivo seletivo para alguns contraceptivos; prevenção baseada em proteção específica, limites na prevenção da sífilis congênita, no tratamento de DST, no rastreamento do câncer cervical e mamário; atividades educativas pontuais, com restrita abordagem das vulnerabilidades, e predomínio do enfoque da sexualidade centrado na reprodução. A média geral de desempenho em SSR é 56,84%. O domínio atenção à saúde reprodutiva tem maior participação, seguido por prevenção e assistência das DST/aids e promoção à SSR (teste de Friedman estimou a contribuição no escore; Dunn, a participação relativa). Os três domínios são correlacionados (Spearman > 0,5). Técnica de agrupamento por k-médias mostrou 5 grupos de desempenho: A, B, C, D e E, compostos por 675, 811, 346, 676 e 227 serviços, com médias de 74,71; 61,95; 55,19; 45,57; e 21,56%, respectivamente. Arranjos organizacionais com saúde da família, ou saúde da família com Unidade Básica de Saúde; localização urbana periférica; delimitação da área de abrangência por planejamento; uso de dados de produção e epidemiológicos para organização do trabalho; presença de serviço especializado de atenção à aids no município, são variáveis associadas ao pertencimento do serviço de APS ao grupo A. Ajustadas em modelo de regressão logística, duas variáveis se apresentam independentemente associadas à maior chance de o serviço pertencer ao grupo A: uso de dados de produção e de dados epidemiológicos para organização do trabalho. Os resultados indicam que a implementação das ações de SSR na APS paulista é incipiente e corroboram a hipótese do reconhecimento inadequado da SSR como objeto de trabalho na APS; bem como de definição inapropriada das tecnologias, que limitam a tradução operacional do programa de SSR. Faz-se necessário: rever o objeto SSR para a APS, enfatizando sua abordagem integral; disseminar tecnologias de atenção à SSR; investir em capacitações, sobretudo, de gerências realmente técnicas; e ainda, fortalecer redes regionais temáticas para SSR. O modelo teórico da avaliação construído mostra-se viável e pode ser utilizado em futuras avaliações
The concept of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) gains visibility in the 1990s, a decade characterized by social activism and by the IV International Conference on Population and Development and the IV World Conference on Women, which affirm that primary health care (PHC) is a priority. In Brazil, PHC is considered strategic for the implementation of SRH in the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS). An evaluation was developed with the purpose of assessing the implementation of SRH actions in PHC at the SUS units in the state of São Paulo (SP), adopting the theory of work in health and comprehensiveness as references and using response database from 2735 units to the Questionnaire PHC Quality Evaluation in SP Municipalities - QualiAB in 2010. A theoretical model of evaluation for SRH actions in the PHC was designed - comprising the following domains: SHR promotion, prevention and assistance of sexually transmitted disease (STD)/AIDS, and reproductive care, with 25, 43 and 31 indicators, respectively. The responses from the units indicate: early start of antenatal care with proper test delivery, more effective organization for immediate postpartum than for late postpartum, and selective reproductive planning for some contraceptives; predominance of specific protection actions, limits in prevention of congenital syphilis, STD syndromic treatment and cervical and breast screening; occasional education activities with a restricted approach to vulnerabilities, an approach to sexuality predominantly through reproduction. The general performance score for dimension SRH at the units is 56,84%. The Reproductive care domain has a bigger participation in the general score, followed by STD/AIDS prevention/assistance and SRH promotion (Friedman test estimated contribution to the general score; Dunn, relative participation). The three domains are correlated (Spearman > 0,5). K-means clustering method showed 5 performance groups: A, B, C, D and E, consisting of 675, 811, 346, 676 and 227 units, with an average of 74,71; 61,95; 55,19; 45,57; and 21,56%, respectively. Organizational arrangements for work in PHC with family health, or the traditional health center combined with family health; urban outskirts, delimitation of area through management criteria; use of epidemiological and production data for work organization; specialized AIDS care in the municipality, are variables associated with PHC units taking part in group A. Adjusted in logistic regression model, two variables are independently associated to a higher chance of the unit to belong to group A: use of epidemiological and production data for work organization. The results indicate that the implementation of SRH services in PHC in the state of São Paulo is incipient and corroborate with the hypothesis of inadequate recognition of SRH as a PHC object of work; as well as inappropriate definition of technologies, which limit the operational translation of the SRH program. It is necessary to: review the SRH object for the PHC emphasizing its comprehensive approach; disseminate technologies of SRH care; invest in training, mainly in technical management, as well as strengthen thematic regional networks for SRH. The theoretical evaluation model designed is feasible and can be used in future evaluations

This chapter examines the regulatory trajectory of access to assisted reproductive technology (ART) in Taiwan since 1980s. The analysis focused on how diverse governing activities validate, challenge, or shape the social relationship at the intersection of gender, sexuality, and heteronormativity. Heternomativity and the discourse of absent fatherhood have reigned so that Taiwan has, from the first ethical guidelines in 1986 to the Human Reproduction Law in 2007, continued to prohibit unmarried women from using ART. Despite the legal exclusion, single women, lesbians and gays did gain access to ART secretly in Taiwan, and more openly abroad. Medical doctors, encountering these excluded women users in their clinics, once lobbied for their legal inclusion in the 2000s, with the rationale centering on women’s desire for motherhood —an acclaimed femininity. By comparison, women’s groups have been seldom involved with the access politics, for their agenda against compulsory motherhood and medicalization of women’s reproductive bodies. Since the mid-2000s, advocacy of queer reproduction, particularly lesbian motherhood, actively shared the information of ART use, and asked for legal inclusion. Their aim to reorder the sexuality hierarchy by asking for reproductive rights makes this unthinkable and unimagined group in early stage of policy-making become the strongest force in reconfiguring the politics of access to ART in Taiwan.

Nearly two hundred volumes of physiology and hygiene textbooks, together with governmental and other materials, are investigated in this chapter to illuminate the intricacies in drawing the moral landscape pertinent to sex education in early republican China. Frequent revisions of official directives testify to the fast changing political and intellectual arena of China. Shifted emphases between reproductive functions and puberty sexuality exemplify the professionals’ uncertainties in getting to the early teens. Pedagogical publication boomed and writers experimented on both textual and visual materials. Bio-medicine was flagged as entrance to learning one’s own body, but a healthier nation promoted in the New Life Movement eventually relied on the individual’s self-discipline not necessarily required of scientific erudition. Some may have found secretion system more useful than anatomical information to integrate physiology, psychology and pathology into the mechanism of sexual differences, so much so that a gender division of labour was proposed to fulfill both personal responsibilities and to echo contemporary political rhetoric. Not all endorsed such elaboration, however, and the zigzag between sexual differences and gender equality became a noteworthy parallel to the tug-of-war between sexuality and reproduction.

Physical and symbolic aspects of bodies limit the migration trajectories of female domestic workers from a Buddhist community in coastal Sri Lanka. Government regulations and family decisions regarding women’s overseas labour draw upon and in turn influence discourses about gender, sexuality, age, health, and class. This ethnographic analysis illustrates that local norms task women with nurturing the brains of babies, preserving the chastity of teenage daughters, caring for frail elders, and preventing their working-class husbands from overindulging in liquor or having sex with other women. Successful social reproduction depends on the proper conjunctions of bodies in the extended family. Corporeal and symbolic dangers imagined to arise from women’s absence fuel a national-level moral panic about female migration.

Women exerted a considerable influence on Maurice, even though admirable female characters are absent from the narrative. Before the First World War, a sexually conservative reform movement called Social Purity was bringing male sexuality under particular scrutiny, making this a difficult time for Forster to be claiming that homosexuality was not morally wrong. Interpreted against this background, Maurice can be read not as a rebellion against attenuated Victorian attitudes or against women but as a challenge to the contemporary social purity movement. In this context – the difficulty of talking about homosexuality, of which the novel explores the effects – the willingness of Forster’s friend and confidante, Florence Barger, to discuss homosexuality also needs to be seen as significant. She contributed to Forster’s ability to represent homosexuality as a valid alternative to bourgeois masculinity that equated heterosexuality with morality, health and economic success.

Chapter 10 ends with a reflection on the current challenges at hand regarding mainstream higher education and universities, as well as the authors’ thoughts on some potential solutions, which draw directly from the spirit of Zapatismo. As a summary chapter, it provides readers with an overview of how the Zapatistas have prioritised political education, social reproduction, solidarity, collective action, democratic process and praxis in their resistance, movement and pursuit of health. The chapter also reiterates the point that the book should ultimately be a gateway text that motivates readers to refuse liberal bystanding and contribute to collective action and radical change wherever they are, from the local to the global, that is relevant, inclusive and enduring.

Bioethics, the study of moral and social issues rising from advances in medical technology, first entered the academy in the United States with the 1969 founding of the Hastings Center, followed the next year by the establishment of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. At the Hastings Center, a private research establishment, projects in bioethics were conducted by tapping philosophers, lawyers, religious scholars, sociologists, and others from universities across the United States and abroad and disseminating the findings in the Hastings Center Report and similar venues; the Kennedy Institute, housed at Georgetown University, comprises philosophers working in bioethics, and publishes its own Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal. Feminist theory, which identifies and criticises the power system of gender that systemically favours the interests of men over women and interacts with other power systems such as race and ableism, also entered the academy in the late 1960s. The two fields of study ran along side by side for over a decade until, in the early 1990s, feminist bioethics was born. This new field drew some of its impetus from the women’s health movement, which encouraged women to take more control over their own bodies, especially in the area of reproduction, and protested the medicalisation and commodification of women’s bodies. It also drew attention to the sexist biases in medical research and practice. Energised by this activism, feminist bioethics critiqued medical and bioethical theory and practice using sex, gender, and other oppressive mechanisms as categories of analysis aimed at dismantling abusive power systems. Feminist bioethicists pointed out that most of bioethics aimed to serve the interests of powerful white men – physicians, medical lawyers, hospital administrators, and the like – rather than looking at medical practice from the patient’s or family’s point of view. But in addition to such criticisms, feminist bioethicists developed theoretical frameworks for curbing practices of oppression in medicine and provided a venue for the neglected and marginalised others who are seldom represented in bioethics. The 1990s saw a steady stream of conferences, monographs, anthologies, and essays in learned journals that examine bioethical issues through a feminist lens. Susan Sherwin’s groundbreaking No Longer Patient: Feminist Ethics & Health Care appeared in 1992, as did Helen Bequaert Holmes and Laura M. Purdy, eds., Feminist Perspectives in Medical Ethics, and Rebecca Dresser’s Hastings Center Report article, ‘Wanted: Single, White Male for Medical Research’. The International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, begun in 1993 by Anne Donchin and Helen Bequaert Holmes, two US feminists, had some 300 members worldwide and has sponsored biannual conferences in conjunction with the International Association of Bioethics. The year 1993 also saw the publication of Mary Mahowald’s Women and Children in Health Care: An Unequal Majority, and Susan Bordo’s Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. In 1995 the prestigious Kennedy Institute of Ethics devoted its Advanced Bioethics Course to feminist perspectives on bioethics, and the plenary lectures of that course were then published in a special issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, edited by Margaret Olivia Little. In 1996 the Journal of Clinical Ethics published special sections in each of its four issues on feminism and bioethics. Laura M. Purdy’s Reproducing Persons appeared that year as well, as did the much-cited anthology edited by Susan M. Wolf, Feminism and Bioethics: Beyond Reproduction, and Susan Wendell’s groundbreaking The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability. These were followed in 1997 by the publication of Rosemarie Tong’s Feminist Approaches to Bioethics: Theoretical Reflections and Practical Applications, Dorothy Roberts’s influential Killing the Black Body, and Elizabeth Haiken’s Venus Envy, a feminist history of cosmetic surgery. In 1998 the Feminist Health Care Ethics Research Network published The Politics of Women’s Health: Exploring Agency and Autonomy, while the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy devoted an entire issue to the feminist ethic of care. Anne Donchin and Laura M. Purdy’s anthology, Embodying Bioethics: Feminist Advances, appeared in 1999, along with Eva Feder Kittay’s Love’s Labor: Essays on Women, Equality, and Dependency. Textbooks and readers in bioethics now routinely include essays written from an explicitly feminist point of view. Much of that work consisted of feminist critique. It identified the ways in which hierarchical rankings that categorise people by race, sex, disability, age, ethnicity, or subject to genetic disease encourage oppressive discrimination in medical practice, research, and public health. It also critiqued nonfeminist bioethics for its bias in favour of socially powerful doctors, and for the abstract nature of its theory, which produced principles that allow that bioethics to ignore inequities among social groups, in particular, the oppressive burden borne by women in their reproductive and caring roles. A few, such as Mary Mahowald, also applied feminist epistemology to the doctor–patient relationship, showing how, even if physicians’ knowledge is epistemically privileged, patients can know more about how their bodies behave than doctors do. The work of feminist bioethicists gradually gained traction in bioethics textbooks and at conferences such as the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and the International Association of Bioethics. But they were persistently underrepresented on government panels such as the President’s Commission on Bioethics and other bodies formulating public policy. They, and women in general, also continued to be underrepresented in medical research.