Judith Lorber is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women's Studies at the Graduate School and Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY). Lisa Jean Moore is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at the Graduate School and the College of Staten Island, CUNY.

Judith Lorber and Lisa Jean Moore consider the interface between the social institutions of gender and Western medicine in this brief, lively textbook. They offer a distinct feminist viewpoint to analyze issues of power and politics concerning physical illness. For a creative, feminist-oriented alternative to traditional texts on medical sociology, medical anthropology, and the history of medicine, this is an ideal choice.

Chapter 1: Gender and the Social Construction of Illness: Overview Chapter 2: Women Get Sicker, but Men Die Quicker: Social Epidemiology Chapter 3: Hierarchies in Health Care: Patients, Professionals, and Gender Chapter 4: Gender and Disability: Contradictions and Status Dilemmas Chapter 5: If a Situation is Defined as Real: Premenstrual Syndrome and Menopause Chapter 6: Genital Surgeries: Gendering Bodies Chapter 7: A Modern Plague: Gender and Aids Chapter 8: Healing Social Bodies in Social Worlds: Feminist Healthcare