Natural Gynecology Manuals: associations, tensions and construction of concepts of health and care in the 21st century

Abstract

The aim is to understand the notions of health-illness, care, self-care, and therapy present in publications with wide circulation in discussion spaces on women's health. It results from documentary research with analysis of three Natural Gynecology manuals, focusing on the concepts of health-disease, care and therapy, seeking to understand the dialectical-hermeneutic dimension of the discourses presented. From the content analysis, three categories emerged: Tension between biomedical and ancestral knowledge in women's health, Care and therapeutic practices and Perception of the menstrual cycle and self-care. The promotion of autonomy and care was identified through the dissemination of the perception of the menstrual cycle and information about female health as the main unifying elements of the discourses. The therapeutic practices presented are centered on self-care and have unconventional characteristics, despite being based on advances in biomedicine. As results, we identified the diversity of epistemological and therapeutic sources of these movements, from popular practices to practices established by clinical medicine. The manuals analyzed appear as devices for discursive dissemination and epistemological dispute about women's health, autonomy and care.