Going "Beyond Birth Control:" The Public Life of YAZ & Representations of Women's Reproductive Health in the U.S. Public Sphere Open Access
Peoples, Whitney (2014)
Abstract
As a result of a 1997 change in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's policy regarding advertising for prescription drug products, Americans have seen an increased number of broadcast DTC or direct-to-consumer advertisements. Women have emerged as an important target audience in this new advertising landscape through the marketing of products such as oral contraceptives. Through a case study of the oral contraceptive YAZ, this dissertation examines the discourses and identities surrounding women's reproductive health and sexuality that have emerged in the era of DTC marketing. A highly successful marketing campaign and several troubling encounters with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, make YAZ ripe for an examination of public and private anxieties surrounding women's reproductive health and sexual practice. The case study includes an analysis of Bayer's marketing campaign for YAZ as well as the varied responses of governmental agencies and women's health advocates. Finally, the dissertation includes the results of a small interview study in which women were asked about their opinions on contemporary gendered health media. Engaging the idea of public and cultural pedagogies, the dissertation considers what is at stake when popular discourses come to constitute a large portion of both public visibility and public information about matters as important to women's health as contraceptives. By considering how legal, advocacy, social, commercial and personal discourses all work to contribute to dominant representations of women's reproductive health, the dissertation crafts an important new analytical framework for reading U.S. popular media and health culture called feminist health media literacy.
Table of Contents
Table Of Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
CONSTRUCTING AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK 6
STRUCTURING THE STUDY 12
CHAPTER ONE
SELLING THE SINGLE LADIES: BIRTH CONTROL, ADVERTISING AND THE
FEMALE BODY 21
THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF CONTEMPORARY CONTRACEPTIVE ADVERTISING
22
SEX AND THE CITY 26
(MEDICATED) SEX IN THE CITY: READING BAYER'S "BEYOND BIRTH CONTROL"
CAMPAIGN 32
PULLING BACK THE COVERS: THE UNDERSIDE OF MEDICATED SEX 53
CHAPTER TWO
REGULATING YAZ: GOVERNMENTAL INTERVENTIONS, CONSUMER PROTECTION AND
DTC ADVERTISING. 60
ADVERTISING HEALTH: UNDERSTANDING THE HISTORY AND ROLE OF DTC
ADVERTISING 63
WARNING, WARNING: DANGER AHEAD! 65
DÉJÀ VU: REVISITING SARAFEM AND EARLIER MARKETING
STRATEGIES FOR PMDD 68
UNCOVERED: THE BAYCOL BACKSTORY 71
A WAR OF WORDS: FDA SAFETY HEARINGS AND WOMEN'S TESTIMONIES.
79
CHAPTER THREE
UP FOR SALE (?): WOMEN'S BODY KNOWLEDGE AND FEMINIST HEALTH
ADVOCACY 98
OUR BODIES OURSELVES AND FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGIES OF HEALTH AND
ADVOCACY 100
RAISING THE PUBLIC PROFILE OF CONTRACEPTIVES AND WOMEN'S
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 112
MARKETING SAFE SEX 117
CRAFTING ALTERNATIVE ENGAGEMENTS WITH MEDIA IN THE NAME OF FEMINIST
WOMEN'S HEALTH ADVOCACY 129
CHAPTER FOUR
CRAFTING EPISTEMIC AUTHORITY: WOMEN'S APPROACHES TO CONTEMPORARY
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH INFORMATION AND DECISION-MAKING. 136
INFORMATION-GATHERING AND DECISION-MAKING PRACTICES 143
THE ROLE OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA 148
CRAFTING STRATEGIC IDENTITIES 155
CONCLUSION 172
BIBLIOGRAPHY 184
About this Dissertation
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