Work

Tenderness (central), sensitivity and/or distress: Tracing gendered enactments of fibromyalgia in medical research

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Despite being unrelated to feminized organs or bodily processes, the contested condition called fibromyalgia is said to be overwhelmingly feminized and diagnosed predominantly in (assumed-) women. Few social scientific studies have explored the reasons or pathways for fibromyalgia's genderedness. In this article, I analyze medical scholarship on fibromyalgia over five decades to trace how it is gendered in this body of knowledge and how this genderedness is negotiated. I show that the genderedness of fibromyalgia is enacted multiply through the construction of fibromyalgia patient archetypes, through the reinscription and repudiation of clinical axioms in research design, and the elucidation of diagnostic criteria.

Source: Health An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine

DOI: 10.1177/13634593261446986

Author: Ahalya Ganesh

Institution: Tampere University

Language: English

Topic: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research

Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650