Description
Book SynopsisHow do women living with genital herpes and/or HPV (human papilloma virus) infections see themselves as sexual beings, and what choices do they make about sexual health issues? Adina Nack, a medical sociologist who specializes in sexual health and social psychology, conducted in-depth interviews with 43 women about their identities and sexuality in regards to chronic illness. The result is a fascinating book about an issue that affects over 15 million Americans, but is all too little discussed. Damaged Goods adds to our knowledge of how women are affected by living with chronic STDs and reveals the stages of their sexual- self transformation. From the anxiety of being diagnosed with an STD to issues of blame and shame, Nack-herself diagnosed with a cervical HPV infection-shows why these women feeling that they are \u0022damaged goods,\u0022 question future relationships, marriage, and their ability to have healthy children.
Trade Review"Damaged Goods extends major ideas about stigma and links them to women's sexual selves. It makes the most explicit links that I have seen between sexually transmitted disease and how women construct and reconstruct their sexual selves and does so in an engaging, accessible way. Nack's emphasis on how these women see themselves as sexual beings is particularly strong. She advances the literature in this area." -Kathy Charmaz, Sonoma State University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments viii 1 Mixing Morality with Medicine 1 2 Sexual Invincibility 25 3 STD Anxiety 53 4 The Immoral Patient 70 5 Damaged Goods 94 6 Sexual Healing 111 7 Reintegrating the Sexual Self 136 8 From Personal Tragedies to Social Change 165 Appendix A: Gaining Entree - an Auto-Ethnographic Foundation 205 Appendix B: Research Methodology 216 Appendix C: Demographic Characteristics of Participants 226 Notes 228 Glossary 230 References 238 Index 250
