Challenging medical knowledge at the source – attempting critical teaching in the health sciences

abstract

This Briefing examines the challenges in including feminist gender and sexuality pedagogies in the curricula of the health sciences at the University of Cape Town. Drawing from both personal experience and existing research, the Briefing argues that the positivist paradigm of orthodox health science has historically contributed to oppressions based on difference in race, gender, and sexuality. The Briefing traces our experiences in challenging the dominant paradigm of knowledge production around gender and sexuality in the health sciences. It highlights and contextualises our key challenges and contributes to an emerging conversation about the inclusion of social sciences content into the health sciences, including strategies to influence the health sciences paradigm from within.

keywords:

• Medical education
• gender and sexuality pedagogies
• health sciences
• critical diversity theory
• MBChB curriculum

Notes

1. See, ‘Victorian women and menstruation’ by E Showalter and E Showalter, ‘Stereotypes of femininity in a theory of sexual evolution’, by J Conway, and ‘Innocent femina sensualis in unconscious conflict’ by PT Cominos in Vicinus (1972) Suffer and Be Still. Women in the Victorian Age.

2. We acknowledge that sexual orientation and gender identity are fluid, and encompass more than the LGBT acronym. However, the current research evidence that we cite only focuses on LGBT identities – in itself an indicator of the rigid, positivist categories created in the health sciences.

3. The prestigious ranking by Times Higher Education assesses teaching institutions by five performance indicators, among them teaching, research and citations. A high rank improves an institution's reputation, and, by consequence, creates an influx of students, funding, and faculty.

4. UCT Health Sciences Faculty, Faculty Charter, http://www.health.uct.ac.za/about/charter

5. For example, see the book An Ambulance of the Wrong Colour (Baldwin-Ragaven, London and de Gruchy, 1999), which examines the complicity of health professionals, and the failure of the health system to address the human rights violations under apartheid.

6. These are the Women's Health Research Unit, the Gender Health and Justice Research Unit, and the Health and Human Rights Programme.

7. These values are outlined on the website of the UCT health sciences faculty, available at http://www.health.uct.ac.za/about/mission.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alexandra Müller

ALEXANDRA MÜLLER trained as a medical doctor and medical sociologist and is a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town. Her current research interests are LGBT people's experiences in the public health system, the impact of heteronormativity on health and health care, and health professionals’ attitudes towards sexual and gender minorities. She lectures in various modules and works on incorporating comprehensive gender and sexuality education into the medical curriculum. Email: [email protected]

Sarah Crawford-Browne

SARAH CRAWFORD-BROWNE is a lecturer in the University of Cape Town's Primary Health Care Directorate, and a clinical social worker researching the psychological impact of exposure to on-going violence on the Cape Flats. After nearly two decades within community based psycho-social programmes, she transited to academia five years ago. Email: [email protected].