Women, Health And Illness in Television

April 01, 2011

ÖZ

In the last twenty years, we have witnessed the rise of the new health conception. This new health conception, which has the feminization of health on its basis, puts the idea of "precaution is better than treatment" in the center. This new conception of health has constructed a very powerful tie with the global neoliberalism that has marked the last thirty years. Today' woman and health problematic has taken a completely opposite position to the women's health problematic presented by the feminist studies of 1970s. In the context of the new health conception masculinity has been defined as the barrier to the health. Because, the masculinity is a position of being free from illnesses, the discourse of "taking precautions before illnesses come" calls to women. As the responsible for both her own and family members' health, the woman has become the central bearer of the new conception of health. Defined as the feminine attitudes such as voluntarily seeing oneself fragile and vulnerable, supposing being under threat, and searching for help, are actually desirable attitudes both for men and woman, but in terms of the traditional gender roles, of course, these attitudes are closer to women. At this point, the issue of feminization of health or gendered worries of health has to be discussed. The feminization of health is put in place and popularized by the mediated world of production, reproduction and consumption. In this respect, the Doktorum TV show has been an enlightening example. This article examines the relationships between the new conception of health, gender and consumption through the Doktorum show with a critical perspective.