The Menopause Industry: How the Medical Establishment Exploits Women
by Coney, Barbara Seaman
Publisher: Hunter House, IncorporatedPages: 370
Paperback
ISBN: 9780897931601
Overview of The Menopause Industry: How the Medical Establishment Exploits Women
Healthy women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s have become a commodity to be exploited for commercial gain. They are being targeted by pharmaceutical companies, medical manufacturers, and doctors with products and services to sell. They are asked to mistrust their own bodies and to rely instead on medical procedures and drugs. Sadly, as menopause has grown into a money-making enterprise, the truth about what happens naturally during this time has been lost. Many women don't know who to believe or what to do. Should you have hormone replacement therapy? What are the side effects? What percentage of women actually develop osteoporosis or breast cancer? Do you really need cervical screening or a hysterectomy? Coney destroys the myth that menopause is a disease with inevitable symptoms like depression, osteoporosis, and low sex drive. She explains what is really known about midlife health, explores the effect of society's negative views of aging, and examines the benefits and risks of common medical interventions like hormone replacement therapy, mammography, and cervical screening. After you read The Menopause Industry, you will be aware, informed, and able to make the right choices for you.Effects of society's negative views of aging/examines benefits & risks of hormone replacement.
Synopsis of The Menopause Industry: How the Medical Establishment Exploits Women
Healthy women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s have become a commodity to be exploited for commercial gain. They are being targeted by pharmaceutical companies, medical manufacturers, and doctors with products and services to sell. They are asked to mistrust their own bodies and to rely instead on medical procedures and drugs. Sadly, as menopause has grown into a money-making enterprise, the truth about what happens naturally during this time has been lost. Many women don't know who to believe or what to do. Should you have hormone replacement therapy? What are the side effects? What percentage of women actually develop osteoporosis or breast cancer? Do you really need cervical screening or a hysterectomy? Coney destroys the myth that menopause is a disease with inevitable symptoms like depression, osteoporosis, and low sex drive. She explains what is really known about midlife health, explores the effect of society's negative views of aging, and examines the benefits and risks of common medical interventions like hormone replacement therapy, mammography, and cervical screening. After you read The Menopause Industry, you will be aware, informed, and able to make the right choices for you.
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. (Sept.)
Reviews of The Menopause Industry: How the Medical Establishment Exploits Women
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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. (Sept.)Library Journal
Originally published in New Zealand, this book offers a unique view of menopause. Unlike Germaine Greer's The Pause (LJ 9/15/92), which addresses the broad social issues, and Eileen Nechas and Denise Foley's Unequal Treatment: What You Don't Know About How Women Are Mistreated by the Medical Community (LJ 4/1/94), which discusses the general medical neglect of women, Coney focuses on the way physicians and pharmaceutical manufacturers have changed menopause from a natural life transition into a disease requiring treatment. By labeling midlife women as estrogen-deficient, these professionals can intervene to prevent the consequences, necessitating medical visits, tests, and hormone therapy. The author notes that most women experience no difficulty with menopause and that the risks of osteoporosis and heart disease are exaggerated while those of long-term hormone replacement are understated. Illustrations from drug advertisements support her thesis. A fascinating book; highly recommended for all collections.-Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L., Cal.Receive unbeatable book deals in your favorite fiction or non-fiction genres. Our daily emails are packed with new and bestselling authors you will love!
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