Over the Moon: Extended-Cycle Contraception and the Recent Evolution of Medicine and Womanhood

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dc.contributor.advisorGeorges, Eugenia
dc.creatorJones, Laura Kathryn
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-08T00:34:49Z
dc.date.available2013-03-08T00:34:49Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation is based on seventeen months of ethnographic fieldwork that followed the development and diffusion of extended-cycle hormonal contraception, or birth control that is designed to eliminate monthly bleeding. It encompassed several sites and multiple constituencies: a clinical trial, documented medical conferences, users, potential users, and refusers of the pharmaceuticals, along with key academic and popular proponents of their adoption. Extended-cycle contraception is a critical topic because this new generation of pills, IUDs, shots, and implants is not only refiguring the length of women's cycles, but it is also augmenting the extent to which its users' bodies are medicalized, or subjected to a type of manipulation and regulation that was previously impossible. No longer just for pregnancy prevention, these regimens are increasingly touted as elective enhancement technologies that may improve on the human design, on the one hand, and as crucial preventative medicine for diseases such as reproductive cancers, on the other hand. Remarkably, these pharmaceuticals are as socially complex as they are chemically--they may facilitate the renegotiation of constructions of womanhood, nature, and progress.
dc.format.extent214 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationJones, Laura Kathryn. "Over the Moon: Extended-Cycle Contraception and the Recent Evolution of Medicine and Womanhood." (2011) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70282">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70282</a>.
dc.identifier.digitalJonesLen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/70282
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectHealth sciences
dc.subjectEnvironmental science
dc.subjectSocial sciences
dc.subjectHormonal contraception
dc.subjectBirth control
dc.subjectMedicalization
dc.subjectMenstruation
dc.subjectMenstrual suppression
dc.subjectExtended-cycle contraception
dc.subjectCultural anthropology
dc.subjectMedicine
dc.subjectWomen's studies
dc.titleOver the Moon: Extended-Cycle Contraception and the Recent Evolution of Medicine and Womanhood
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentAnthropology
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
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