ABSTRACT
EVERY DAY, AMERICAN WOMEN MAKE important choices about their health care, whether deciding to take multivitamin pills or agreeing to undergo risky surgical procedures. Individual decisions are influenced by very personal factors, yet in a broader sense, modern medicine has been thoroughly politicized. The persistent popularity of alternative healing, in particular, represents a vehicle through which people dissatisfied with conventional recommendations may seek to empower themselves in a quest for more satisfactory treatment. Individuals’ frustrations may combine with (and in turn be reinforced by) the agendas of oppositional political movements. Major social and cultural trends also play a strong role in promoting options outside standard therapy. This article focuses on women’s choices of alternative medicine, particularly in respect to the feminist challenge to the mainstream medical system during the late twentieth century.
