The sexual embodiment of the cancer patient

The sexual embodiment of the cancer patient This paper draws upon data from my doctoral studies and uses poststructuralism as a methodology to provide a way of seeing and understanding cancer patients’ complex experience of their bodies. Cancer patients were massaged for the purpose of this study an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nursing inquiry 1998-12, Vol.5 (4), p.248-257
Main Author: Riet, Pamela van der
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Body Image
Cancer
Conflict (Psychology)
embodiments
Female
Feminism
Humans
intimacy
Massage
Massage - nursing
Massage - psychology
Neoplasms - nursing
Neoplasms - psychology
Nurse-Patient Relations
Nursing
Nursing Methodology Research
Patients
Philosophy, Nursing
pleasure
Poetry as Topic
poststructuralism
Relationship
Sexuality
the body
Touch
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Summary:The sexual embodiment of the cancer patient This paper draws upon data from my doctoral studies and uses poststructuralism as a methodology to provide a way of seeing and understanding cancer patients’ complex experience of their bodies. Cancer patients were massaged for the purpose of this study and the themes addressed in this article are linked to the sexuality of the person being massaged and the masseuse (PVDR). In order to capture the richness of the cancer patients’ experience, the data are presented in an unconventional way — in the form of poetry. The poems show that the damaged bodies of cancer patients are still sexual in nature. In this research, the body of the cancer patient is a discursive one inscribed with power, culture, society and history. There are also themes of managing the body, altered embodiments of femininity, altered embodiments of masculinity, intimacy, and speaking the unspeakable.
ISSN:1320-7881
1440-1800
DOI:10.1046/j.1440-1800.1998.00244.x