Silent voices: women, complementary medicine, and the co-optation of change

Abstract

Despite the prominence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in public and policy debates, our knowledge of the relationship between CAM and gender remains undeveloped. By tracing two dominant strands of research involving the women's health movement and the implications of CAM's increasing popularity among women, this article draws attention to the need for research addressing the roles of women as practitioners and students of CAM. It is argued that the medicalization and co-optation of CAM has serious implications for women's health by constraining CAM's potential to challenge, resist, and transform the hegemony and inequalities of biomedicine.