Sexism in contemporary healthcare is often framed as a modern problem, stemming from a lack of training or insufficient research attention to women’s health. While these explanations are not wrong, they are incomplete. From a critical health psychology perspective, the marginalisation of women’s bodies is not an accident of modern medicine, but a feature of its foundations. The patriarchal logic that shapes how women’s bodies are understood, viewed, and governed today are embedded in the historical origins of Western medicine.
Rachel Fox explores how doctor-writer narratives often depict fat people in dehumanising and hurtful ways, and argues they need to be reframed with empathy.
During my six years as a student in the medical humanities, I’ve become quite familiar with the “doctor reflecting on a memorable patient encounter” genre of publication. These stories often follow a similar structure: anecdotal introduction, explanation of patient/case/doctor’s own training, dramatic or otherwise significant event, then conclusion with a broader lesson and/or resolution for the author. Stories that take this form are compelling and familiar; readers get to vicariously experience the stakes of medicine with the security of closure awaiting them at the end, while the doctor-writer gets a cohort of witnesses for their perspective on some significant part of their practice. At their best, these stories “humanize” the experience of medicine, giving a personal voice to the intimacies within a seemingly indifferent system. But I have yet to see a story of this genre that humanizes fat people.
