Women and the new paradigm of health and medicine

This paper argues that there is a 'new paradigm in health and medicine'. The biomedical model is being overlain by a psycho-socio-epidemio logical model. Many feminist writers demonstrated that a system of health care which was dominated by the biomedical model was especially damaging for women. However, a system which is underpinned by the psycho-socio-epidemiological model may also have some potentially detrimental consequences for women. Drawing on the concepts of 'risk', 'surveillance' and the 'rational self', this paper offers a critical analysis of health promotion—a core feature of the new paradigm—and concludes by setting out six key implications for women and health.