Damaged Goods?: Women Living With Incurable Sexually Transmitted Diseases

by Adina Nack

Overview

How 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 "damaged goods," question future relationships, marriage, and their ability to have healthy children.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592137091
Publisher:	Temple University Press
Publication date:	08/21/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	383 KB

About the Author

Adina Nack is Associate Professor of Sociology at California Lutheran University and has been involved with sexual health education for more than a decade as an outreach worker, health educator, researcher, as well as a professor of sexuality studies. She is a member of Ventura County's HIV/AIDS Coalition and, for several years has been the organizer of the county's World AIDS Day events.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments                      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 Entrée - 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