The Menopause Industry: How the Medical Establishment Exploits Women - Softcover

Sandra Coney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0897931602 ISBN 13: 9780897931601

Publisher: Hunter House, 1994

Synopsis

Veteran health investigator Sandra Coney presents compelling evidence that how we perceive menopause is shaped and, in large measure, distorted by those who have transformed this natural process into a wildly lucrative enterprise. Coney examines the true motivations behind the medical industry's highly publicized depiction of the hardships of menopause. National TV and radio tour.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

The drug-company-inspired campaign to remarket estrogen with a clean image has been stunningly successful. In the 1990s the reorienting of osteoporosis as a woman's disease is complete. It is now mandatory to include osteoporosis as a major "symptom" in any discussion of menopause. By convincing the public and the medical profession that osteoporosis is a "crippling" and "killing" disorder and estrogen the only cure, HRT has been imbued with a kind of saintliness. HRT offers salvation where otherwise there would be none, rescuing women from an unthinkable fate as deformed crones.

From Publishers Weekly:

"The justification for interfering in well people's lives must be firmly established before it is acted upon," Coney states in her exploration of one of the hot topics of the '90s. With baby boomers reaching menopause, the author contends that modern medicine sees this as another area of life to be managed by an establishment steeped in negative stereotypes of menopausal women. Menopause, she says, is a natural part of life, not an illness, and it doesn't necessarily require medical intervention. A New Zealander involved in women's health issues for many years, Coney (Hysterectomy) examines menopause, osteoporosis, hormone replacement therapy and cervical and breast cancer screening programs, charting "medicine's discovery of the midlife woman." She shows that some medical interventions have been widely promoted before "the risks and drawbacks have been fully resolved"-a strategy she calls into question. This is a serious examination of many of the important health issues faced by midlife women, not a pop guide to getting through. Quotes from medical literature and from her many interviews illustrate and personalize her thesis. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hunter House
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0897931602
• ISBN 13: 9780897931601
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 370