Assignment 3-Option 1- Jessica Fleming

For this assignment, I chose to discuss Chapter two of Lupton’s Medicine as

culture: Illness, disease and the body in Western societies. In this chapter, Lupton

explores the concept of the body as a social construction, and the various ways that the

body is perceived in western medicine. Although she discussed many points, I chose to

focus my analysis on two of her points that I strongly agree with: the concept of the

gendered body, and her discussion on the commodification of the body.

Sexed and Gendered Bodies

When discussing the concept of sexed and gendered bodies, Lupton mainly

draws on the work of Pringle and Gatens. She makes the point for, “pay[ing] greater

attention to the relationship between bodily processes and social relations, including

sexual pleasure, childbirth, and infant feeding practices, as part of the struggle for

resistance to patriarchal control” (Lupton, 2003, p. 27). I felt that this point succinctly

highlights an area I believe to be of great importance. I completely agree with her

discussion in the ways that the body can be gendered and the social implications of

that. This is because medical conditions can often be sexed, whether it is in regard to

reproductive health maintenance or differing risk factors for various illnesses. Examples

of this are the controversies surrounding the autonomy of females and their

reproductive rights, the cost associated with menstrual products, workplace

discrimination due to female health needs such as postpartum leave and more. These

examples support Lupton’s point because these are examples in which social relations

play a large part in the way we regard bodies and create policies surrounding them

depending on sex. I also support her discussion on gendered bodies by using the
example of harmful gender binaries that still exist on medical and governmental forms

as well as a lack of resources and awareness for gender non-binary and transgender

people.

As an extension from this, Lupton also covers the way that sexual identities can

impact constructions of the body through social relations. She uses the example of the

HIV/AIDS crisis to support this point. An example I thought of that strengthens her point

is that even today, men who have sex with men (even if only once) are indefinitely

ineligible to donate blood in Canada and much of the developed world. Outside the

scope of this assignment, this topic deserves much more attention, however I felt it

important to discuss it—even if only briefly— here.

The Commodification of the Body

In Lupton’s second chapter, she also discusses the commodification of the body.

She argues, “... the body itself has become a fetishized commodity, something to be

attractively packaged and offered for exchange” (Lupton, 2003, p.40). I completely

support this point as there are many situations that exemplify this commodification. Most

notably, the body is often commodified in the media, when athletic nude male and

female bodies are sexualized and used to sell products. There are also potentially

dangerous products like herbal weight loss teas and supplements that are sold

fraudulently promising weight loss results. The body is also commodified in pornography

and what some sociologists call “The cult of wellbeing”. Within this, health foods,

expensive equipment, and supplements are all sold to people in pursuit of the “perfect

body” that has been constructed to be sold. In this way, the body is commodified to

create a false ideal to which people can never attain and thus keep purchasing products
that they believe will help them be more attractive. Since the construction of the perfect

body is false, they will keep purchasing more products and treatments that could

potentially harm them.

Overall, there are many relevant discussions in Lupton’s chapter regarding the

body, health, and the way they have been influenced by social practices and policy. I

chose to discuss the gendered body and the commodification of the body because they

are especially relevant now in light of the Me Too movement, transgender military bans,

and many dangerous outcomes from fraudulent wellness products.

References

Lupton, D. 2003. Medicine as culture: illness, disease, and the body in Western

societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers, 22-53.