Dr. Sonnenberg’s lecture explores how a doctor’s environment affects medical practice. He produced a well thought out argument that incites discussion of the topic he presents, and provided a few examples that supply insight into his ideas. Specifically, the Dora case, the social construct of gender, the social construct of a doctor’s superiority, and religion are examples of a doctor’s medical practice being shaped by the environment that surrounds it.
Dr. Sonnenberg’s statements about Freud’s analysis of Dora are well founded. According to the article “Our Wounds, Our Duty,” doctors “take in the pain of their patients. They share it, reshape it, and help integrate it” into a post-traumatic world (Palaima and Sonnenberg 1). Freud, despite …show more content…
Throughout history, the social and political aspects of human lives have been defined by patriarchy, a social system influenced by male dominance. In the Dora case this is evident because Freud assumed that there was no way Dora could have actually experienced sexual abuse because she was a woman (“Seduction”). During this time period, it was believed that women were not intelligent enough to know things about their own bodies or sexual interactions. This is an example of that time period’s social construct of gender, which was that men are superior and more intelligent than women. With this construct Freud automatically assumed that Dora was not telling the truth when she claimed to have had incestual relations with her father. Another instance of the social construct of gender preventing doctors from truly benefiting patients is on the subject of abortion. For many single women in the 1960s “abortions were generally illegal” (Kennedy 2), and in today’s society the power to decide for or against abortions has been placed in government’s hands. This prevents women from making decisions about their own bodies and reproductive care. Such laws “interfere in the doctor-patient relationship, and prevent the exercise of the skills of the healer” (“Control” 1). By not allowing doctors to propose the option of abortion because of its illegality, their environment is preventing them from truly being a beneficial healer. The social construct of gender provides an environment in which the doctor cannot properly analyze and provide care to his or her
Dr. Sonnenberg’s statements about Freud’s analysis of Dora are well founded. According to the article “Our Wounds, Our Duty,” doctors “take in the pain of their patients. They share it, reshape it, and help integrate it” into a post-traumatic world (Palaima and Sonnenberg 1). Freud, despite …show more content…
Throughout history, the social and political aspects of human lives have been defined by patriarchy, a social system influenced by male dominance. In the Dora case this is evident because Freud assumed that there was no way Dora could have actually experienced sexual abuse because she was a woman (“Seduction”). During this time period, it was believed that women were not intelligent enough to know things about their own bodies or sexual interactions. This is an example of that time period’s social construct of gender, which was that men are superior and more intelligent than women. With this construct Freud automatically assumed that Dora was not telling the truth when she claimed to have had incestual relations with her father. Another instance of the social construct of gender preventing doctors from truly benefiting patients is on the subject of abortion. For many single women in the 1960s “abortions were generally illegal” (Kennedy 2), and in today’s society the power to decide for or against abortions has been placed in government’s hands. This prevents women from making decisions about their own bodies and reproductive care. Such laws “interfere in the doctor-patient relationship, and prevent the exercise of the skills of the healer” (“Control” 1). By not allowing doctors to propose the option of abortion because of its illegality, their environment is preventing them from truly being a beneficial healer. The social construct of gender provides an environment in which the doctor cannot properly analyze and provide care to his or her