Course overview
This course examines how our experiences of health and illness are profoundly influenced by cultural norms of gender and sexuality. You will be introduced to major theoretical approaches to the social study of gendered and sexed bodies from feminist/gender/queer scholars, exploring how historical and contemporary constructions of un/healthy bodies are made through the intersecting politics of gender and sex, scientific racism, contested knowledges and discrimination. Through a range of global case studies (such as sexual dysfunction, trans health, digital health, reproductive injustice and pharmaceutical markets) we will investigate how contemporary debates about bodies and health are shaped by differing political contexts, which in turn shape health care, health inequities, and embodied experiences of all people.