Editing Medicalization (section)

=== Sexuality and gender ===
{{Main article|Medicalisation of sexuality|l1 = Medicalization of sexuality}}
Many aspects of human sexuality have been medicalized and pathologised by psychiatry, psychology and the [[pharmaceutical industry]]. This includes masturbation, homosexuality, erectile dysfunction and female sexual dysfunction. Medicalization has also been used to justify sexualisation of [[transgender]] people, [[intersex]] people and those diagnosed with [[HIV/AIDS]]. The medicalization of sexuality has resulted in increased [[social control]], [[disease mongering]], surveillance, and increased funding in some research areas of [[sexology]] and human physiology. The practice of medicalizing sexuality has been widely criticized, with one of the most common criticisms being that the [[biological reductionism]] and other tenets of medicalisation, individualism and naturalism, generally fail to take into account [[Sociocultural perspective|sociocultural]] factors contributing to [[human sexuality]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Štulhofer |first=Aleksandar |title=The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality |date=2015-04-20 |isbn=9781405190060 |pages=721–817 |chapter=Medicalization of sexuality |doi=10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs297 |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs297}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last=Tiefer |first=Leonore |date=May 2010 |title=Still resisting after all these years: an update on sexuo-medicalization and on the New View Campaign to challenge the medicalization of women's sexuality |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14681991003649495 |journal=Sexual and Relationship Therapy |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=189–196 |doi=10.1080/14681991003649495 |issn=1468-1994 |s2cid=145389996 |access-date=2023-12-12 |via=EBSCO|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[HIV/AIDS pandemic]] allegedly caused from the 1980s a "profound re-medicalization of sexuality".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aggleton |first1=Peter |title=Framing the sexual subject: the politics of gender, sexuality, and power |last2=Parker |first2=Richard Bordeaux |last3=Barbosa |first3=Regina Maria |publisher=University of California Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-520-21838-8 |location=Berkeley}} p.3</ref><ref>Carole S. Vance "Anthropology Rediscovers Sexuality: A Theoretical Comment." Social Science and Medicine 33 (8) 875-884 1991</ref>{{huh|date=August 2024}}<!--- MAYBE WORD ORDER?  "CAUSED FROM THE 1980s"--->

The diagnosis of [[premenstrual dysphoric disorder]] (PMDD) has caused some controversy when [[fluoxetine]] (also known as Prozac) was being repackaged as a PMDD therapy under the trade named [[Sarafem]]. The psychologist [[Peggy Kleinplatz]] has criticized the diagnosis as the medicalization of normal human behavior.<ref name="offman2004">Offman A, Kleinplatz PJ (2004). Does PMDD Belong in the DSM? Challenging the Medicalization of Women's Bodies. ''The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality'', Vol. 13</ref> Other medicalized aspects of women's health include [[infertility]],<ref name="Social Science & Medicine 2016 pp. 39–46">{{cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Ann V. |date=2016-05-01 |title=The margins of medicalization: Diversity and context through the case of infertility |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616301058#bib54 |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=156 |pages=39–46 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.03.005 |issn=0277-9536 |pmid=27017089 |access-date=2022-01-16|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[breastfeeding]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Apple |first1=R. D. |date=March 1, 1994 |title=The Medicalization of Infant Feeding in the United States and New Zealand: Two Countries, One Experience |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/089033449401000125?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed |journal=The Journal of Human Lactation |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=31–37 |doi=10.1177/089033449401000125 |pmid=7619244 |s2cid=19873049 |access-date=16 January 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> the childbirth process,<ref name="Shaw 2013 pp. 522–536">{{cite journal |last=Shaw |first=Jessica C. A. |year=2013 |title=The Medicalization of Birth and Midwifery as Resistance |journal=Health Care for Women International |publisher=Informa UK Limited |volume=34 |issue=6 |pages=522–536 |doi=10.1080/07399332.2012.736569 |issn=0739-9332 |pmid=23514572 |s2cid=30949127 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and [[postpartum depression]].<ref name="Godderis pp. 484–500">{{cite journal |last=Godderis |first=Rebecca |date=2011-09-01 |title=Iterative Generation of Diagnostic Categories Through Production and Practice: The Case of Postpartum Depression |journal=Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry |publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=484–500 |doi=10.1007/s11013-011-9232-0 |issn=0165-005X |pmid=21882061 |s2cid=21432019}}</ref>

Although it has received less attention, it is claimed that [[masculinity]] has also faced medicalization, being deemed damaging to health and requiring regulation or enhancement through drugs, technologies or therapy.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Dana |title=Medicalized masculinities |last2=Faircloth |first2=Christopher A. |date=2006 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=1592130976 |location=Philadelphia |oclc=60603319}}</ref> Specifically, [[erectile dysfunction]] was once considered a natural part of the aging process in men, but has since been medicalized as a problem, [[late-onset hypogonadism]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marshall |first1=Barbara L. |date=July 1, 2006 |title=The New Virility: Viagra, Male Aging and Sexual Function |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1363460706065057 |journal=Sexualities |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=345–362 |doi=10.1177/1363460706065057 |s2cid=145132541 |access-date=16 January 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

According to Mike Fitzpatrick, resistance to medicalization was a common theme of the [[gay liberation]], [[anti-psychiatry]], and [[feminist movement]]s of the 1970s, but now there is "virtually no resistance to the advance of government intrusion in lifestyle if it is deemed to be justified in terms of public health."<ref name="Fitzpatrick">{{cite journal |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Mike |date=August 2004 |title=From 'nanny state' to 'therapeutic state' |journal=[[The British Journal of General Practice]] |volume=1 |issue=54(505) |pages=645 |pmc=1324868 |pmid=15517694}}</ref> Moreover, the pressure for medicalization now comes from society itself as well as from the government and medical professionals.<ref name="Fitzpatrick" />