From opportunity to obligation: Medicalization of post-menopausal sexuality in Turkey

In this article, I analyze the constructions of sexuality after menopause in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a period of increased medicalization of menopause in Turkey. I argue that the medicalization of menopause in Turkey contributed to framing sexual problems in middle age as the woman’s respons...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sexualities 2014-01, Vol.17 (1-2), p.43-62
Main Author: Erol, Maral
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Females
Gender
Hormones
Marriage
Medicalization
Medicine
Menopause
Middle age
Obligation
Responsibility
Sexuality
Sociology
Sociology of health and medicine
Turkey
Women
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this article, I analyze the constructions of sexuality after menopause in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a period of increased medicalization of menopause in Turkey. I argue that the medicalization of menopause in Turkey contributed to framing sexual problems in middle age as the woman’s responsibility, offering hormone therapy as a solution and part of ‘maintenance work.’ Menopausal women’s sexuality is defined in relation to their partner’s sexuality in a monogamous marriage, and remaining sexually active is framed as a woman’s duty. These discussions contribute to understanding how medical authority is differently invoked in shaping middle-age sexuality in local contexts.
ISSN:1363-4607
1461-7382
DOI:10.1177/1363460713511095