Books like Gender Shock by Phyllis Burke

"Is it a boy or a girl? Our automatic first question about a new baby reveals how profoundly we believe that sex difference is natural and inborn, and how fundamental sex is to our conception of human identity. But, in fact, biologist and cultural critic Anne Fausto-Sterling shows in her new book that the answer to this seemingly basic question is more complex than we realize. In her probing critique of scientific, medical and popular understanding of sex, Fausto-Sterling uses an examination of research, medical practice and astonishing real-life cases to shake the very foundations of our ideas about sexual difference.". "Taking her cue from the burgeoning intersexual movement, Fausto-Sterling argues for an end to authoritarian medical interventions in intersex cases. Ultimately, Fausto-Sterling urges us to re-imagine more than just our labels for the parts and processes of the human body."--BOOK JACKET.

A comprehensive, reader‑friendly anthology that offers authoritative information on transgender identity, health, relationships, and culture, written by transgender and genderqueer authors.

"In describing and explaining the sexes, medicine and science participated in the delineation of what was "feminine" and what was "masculine" in the Middle Ages. Hildegard of Bingen and Albertus Magnus, among others, writing about gynecology, the human constitution, fetal development, or the naturalistic dimensions of divine Creation, became increasingly interested in issues surrounding reproduction and sexuality. Did women as well as men produce procreative seed? How did the physiology of the sexes influence their healthy states and their susceptibility to disease? Who derived more pleasure from sexual intercourse, men or women?" "The answers to such questions created a network of flexible concepts which did not endorse a single model of male-female relations, but did affect views on the health consequences of sexual abstinence for women and men and on the allocation of responsibility for infertility - problems with much social and religious significance in the Middle Ages. Sometimes at odds with, and sometimes in accord with other forces in medieval society, medicine and natural philosophy helped to construct a set of notions that divided significant portions of the world - from the behavior of animals to the operations of astrological signs - into "masculine" and "feminine." Even cases that seemed to exist outside the definitions of this duality, for example, hermaphrodite features or homosexual behavior, were brought under control by the application of gendered labels, such as "masculine women.""--Jacket.

Chloe Bird and Patricia Rieker argue that to improve men's and women's health, individuals, researchers, and policymakers must understand the social and biological sources of the perplexing gender differences in illness and longevity. Although individuals are increasingly aware of what they should do to improve health, competing demands for time, money, and attention discourage or prevent healthy behavior. Drawing on research and cross-national examples of family, work, community, and government policies, the authors develop a model of constrained choice that addresses how decisions and actions at each of these levels shape men's and women's health-related opportunities. Understanding the cumulative impact of their choices can inform individuals at each of these levels how to better integrate health implications into their everyday decisions and actions. Their platform for prevention calls for a radical reorientation of health science and policy to help individuals pursue health and to lower the barriers that may discourage that pursuit.