Internet Marketing of Bariatric Surgery : Contemporary Trends in the Medicalization of Obesity  

Oleh:

Salant, Talya ; Santry, Heena P.

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Social Science & Medicine (www.elsevier.com/locate/sosscimed) vol. 62 no. 10 (May 2006), page 2445-2457.
Topik: internet; US; bariatric surgery; internet; obesity; medicalization

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: SS53.4 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

Lihat Detail Induk

Isi artikel

In the context of political, economic and scientific anxiety around the epidemic rise in obesity in the US, the social and historical forces engendering the medicalization of obesity have been widely discussed. however, the recent growth of bariatric weight loss surgery and the expanding presence of advertising for bariatric surgery on the internet suggest the possible emergence of new loci and languages of medialization. We sought to identify the nature and extent to which web advertising of bariatric surgery contributes to the medicalization of obesity by examining the design and teXtual content of 100 bariatric surgery center websites. We found that websites, through strategic use of text and images, consistently descrIbe obesity as a serious disease that requires professional ascertainment and supervision, entails substantial individual, suffering and is remedied through the transformative yet low risk effects of bariatric surgey. On the process, social normaly and risk reduction come to replace physical criteria as the basis for determining health, Further, webites draw upon contradictory discourses of medizalization, that is they insist upon external (e.g. genetics, environment) causes of obesity to legitimize surgical intervention while implicating individual behaviours in surgical failure. From this, we suggest that the economic and professional motivations underlying website advertisements for bariatric surgery may result in confusing messages being sent to prospective patients as well as the perpetuation of gendered notions of obesity and the entrenchment of health disparities.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali