The Estrogen Elixir
A History of Hormone Replacement Therapy in America
Published on 26. April 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-0-8018-9486-2 (ISBN)
Description
In the first complete history of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), Elizabeth Siegel Watkins illuminates the complex and changing relationship between the medical treatment of menopause and cultural conceptions of aging. Describing the development, spread, and shifting role of HRT in America from the early twentieth century to the present, Watkins explores how the interplay between science and society shaped the dissemination and reception of HRT and how the medicalization-and subsequent efforts toward the demedicalization-of menopause and aging affected the role of estrogen as a medical therapy. Telling the story from multiple perspectives-physicians, pharmaceutical manufacturers, government regulators, feminist health activists, and the media, as well as women as patients and consumers-she reveals the striking parallels between estrogen's history as a medical therapy and broad shifts in the role of medicine in an aging society. Today, information about HRT is almost always accompanied by a laundry list of health risks.
While physicians and pharmaceutical companies have striven to develop the safest possible treatment for the symptoms of menopause and aging, many specialists question whether HRT should be prescribed at all. Drawing from a wide range of scholarly research, archival records, and interviews, The Estrogen Elixir provides valuable historical context for one of the most pressing debates in contemporary medicine.
While physicians and pharmaceutical companies have striven to develop the safest possible treatment for the symptoms of menopause and aging, many specialists question whether HRT should be prescribed at all. Drawing from a wide range of scholarly research, archival records, and interviews, The Estrogen Elixir provides valuable historical context for one of the most pressing debates in contemporary medicine.
Reviews / Votes
This is an excellent book, and one I would heartily recommend to anyone with an interest in the history of the health sciences or the history of the women's movement. Doody's Review Service 2007 Much has been written about post-menopausal estrogen therapy... This wonderful book tells the story. -- Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, M.D. New England Journal of Medicine 2007 A good read. -- Wulf H. Utian Journal of Clinical Investigation 2008 The Estrogen Elixir sets a high standard for future histories of pharmaceuticals and of aging. -- Jimmy Elaine Wilkinson Meyer Journal of American History 2007 This book takes an in-depth, socially analytical look at the evolution of menopausal hormone therapy in the United States, with a focus on estrogen since its discovery... Watkins tells the story accurately and objectively. No accusations and no praise, just the facts. -- K. Eddie Gabry, MD, MS JAMA 2008 Watkins provides a fascinating, multi-faceted study of HRT, leaving no voices out of the debate. -- Wendy Kline History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 2007 Watkins presents a detailed account of the historical record of the subject. -- Carlos Sonnenschein Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2008 More than a medical history of HRT. It is also a history of the medicalization of women's health and changing cultural attitudes toward aging, femininity, female identity, women's health activism, and the science of drug evaluations. -- Dominique Tobbel Chemical Heritage Magazine 2008 A fascinating aspect of Watkins's story is how drugs can be rebranded in the face of falling sales. -- Bruno J. Strasser Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 2008 A significant work on the social history of American medicine and a major contribution to the growing literature on hormonal therapeutics and research. -- Chandak Sengoopta Isis 2008 Estrogen Elixir has many strengths... a commendable and welcome addition to emerging literature in modern women's health history. -- Suzanne Junod, Ph.D. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 2010More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
522 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8018-9486-2 (9780801894862)
DOI
10.1353/book.3320
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
06/2007
Johns Hopkins University Press
€51.50
Article not available for order
E-Book
06/2007
Johns Hopkins University Press
€22.49
Available for download
Person
Elizabeth Siegel Watkins is a professor in the History of Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of On the Pill: A Social History of Oral Contraceptives, 1950-1970, also published by Johns Hopkins.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Beginnings
2. From the ''Neutral Gender'' to ''Feminine Forever''
3. Selling Estrogen to Doctors
4. Selling Estrogen to Women
5. From Hero to Villain: Estrogen and Endometrial Cancer
6. Enter the Feminists: Informing Women about Estrogen
7. Enter the FDA: A Patient Package Insert for Estrogen
8. Resurrecting Estrogen, I: Osteoporosis and Medical Science
9. Resurrecting Estrogen, II: Osteoporosis and American Culture
10. Skeptics and Believers: Varieties of Women's Responses
11. Weighing the Benefits and Risks of HRT: Estrogen, Heart Disease, and Breast Cancer
12. 1992: The Year of the Menopause
13. Meno-Boomers: Another Generation Confronts Estrogen
14. The ''Gold Standard'': Estrogen and the Randomized Controlled Trials
Notes
Index
Introduction
1. Beginnings
2. From the ''Neutral Gender'' to ''Feminine Forever''
3. Selling Estrogen to Doctors
4. Selling Estrogen to Women
5. From Hero to Villain: Estrogen and Endometrial Cancer
6. Enter the Feminists: Informing Women about Estrogen
7. Enter the FDA: A Patient Package Insert for Estrogen
8. Resurrecting Estrogen, I: Osteoporosis and Medical Science
9. Resurrecting Estrogen, II: Osteoporosis and American Culture
10. Skeptics and Believers: Varieties of Women's Responses
11. Weighing the Benefits and Risks of HRT: Estrogen, Heart Disease, and Breast Cancer
12. 1992: The Year of the Menopause
13. Meno-Boomers: Another Generation Confronts Estrogen
14. The ''Gold Standard'': Estrogen and the Randomized Controlled Trials
Notes
Index