In recent years, there has been extensive analysis of the health effects of menopause and the safety and efficacy of the various "treatments". There has also been rising concern about the appropriation and pathologization of menopause by medicine and its effects on women. At the same time, however, there has been relatively little reflection on the social, cultural, philosophical and ethical issues raised by both menopause itself and the way it has been handled by medicine. This text brings together a number of reflections from a broad range of areas including feminism, cultural studies, clinical medicine, sociology, philosophy and political science and includes the voices and experiences of menopausal women themselves. In an innovative series of essays, current thinking about medicine, society and the body is examined critically. Particular attention is given to the medical representations of menopause, biology and ageing, the history of medical approaches to women and the tensions between bio-medical models and other explanations of menopause. The issue of hormonal therapies is explored in the context of the connections between women, medicine, representation and cultural politic

In recent years, there has been extensive analysis of the health effects of menopause and the safety and efficacy of the various "treatments". There has also been rising concern about the appropriation and pathologization of menopause by medicine and its effects on women. At the same time, however, there has been relatively little reflection on the social, cultural, philosophical and ethical issues raised by both menopause itself and the way it has been handled by medicine. This text brings together a number of reflections from a broad range of areas including feminism, cultural studies, clinical medicine, sociology, philosophy and political science and includes the voices and experiences of menopausal women themselves. In an innovative series of essays, current thinking about medicine, society and the body is examined critically. Particular attention is given to the medical representations of menopause, biology and ageing, the history of medical approaches to women and the tensions between bio-medical models and other explanations of menopause. The issue of hormonal therapies is explored in the context of the connections between women, medicine, representation and cultural politic

Experiments in Love and Death is about the depth and complexity of the ethical issues that arise in illness and medicine. In his concept of 'microethics' Paul Komesaroff provides an alternative to the abstract debates about principles and consequences that have long dominated ethical thought. He shows how ethical decisions are everywhere: in small decisions, in facial expressions, in almost inconspicuous acts of recognition and trust. Through powerful descriptions of case studies and clear and concise explanations of contemporary philosophical theory the book brings discussions about ethics in medicine back to where they belong - to the level of the everyday experience where people actually live, suffer and hope. A fresh and evocative look at the changing world of ethics as it applies to health and illness, this is an important book for all those touched by illness or suffering.