The medicine I learned in school was based on a linear, scientific, male worldview whose truth I did not question. When this medicine failed me, as a woman and a mother, I sought alternatives. Herbs helped me take care of myself and my family, simply and safely, but I questioned the assumptions behind what I was taught. It was clear to me that alternative health care disempowers women as much, or more than, orthodox medicine does. They both actively assume that the norm on which assessment of health is to be based is masculine in gender.
Assuming that a healthy male is the definition of health may not seem like much of a problem, unless you are a woman. This core assumption has hurt, and continues to hurt, women in a multitude of direct and indirect ways, from the deeply personal to the widely political. This assumption leads to attempts to "correct" - with drugs and surgery - physical and emotional states that are normal (and healthy) for women, but not for men.
Consider: Healthy women were given DES (a hormone) simply because they were pregnant - their offspring are cancer-prone.
Millions of menopausal women have been (and are still) treated with hormones in an effort to replace what is "lost." Does this improve their health? No. Use of hormone replacement increases the risk of stroke, heart disease, and breast cancer.
Menstruating women need some quiet time alone. Instead they are offered pink Prozac to help them overcome their "depression."
Women are advised to have their uterus (and increasingly their ovaries, too) removed since they are "not needed after menopause ... just places that can harbor cancer." It is well known that a woman's sexual response is unlikely to be as strong, and may even be lost, when she loses these vital organs. A century ago, a woman who challenged male authority could be diagnosed as "hysterical" and her uterus ("hyster") removed (often without anesthesia or disinfectants).
There is more to medicine than the male perspective. I speak for the woman-centered tradition. It offers men and women a new way to think about and create health in all stages of their lives. It empowers women to take charge of their health and their lives, to honor and respect themselves, and the earth. I call it the Wise Woman Tradition.
