Gender Biases Underlying the Social Construction of Illness States: The Case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Abstract

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a controversial illness of unknown etiology which appears to predominate among women. This article employs a feminist social constructionist perspective to critically assess the biomedical and psychosocial literatures on CFS. The authors argue that the failure to demonstrate a viral etiology of CFS led to a paradigmatic shift in research perspectives. Substantial attention became directed to psychiatric components of CFS. The authors contrast this research focus with the divergent views of the nature and likely etiology of this illness represented in CFS patient accounts of their illness experiences. Moreover, current assumptions regarding the nature and etiology of CFS are contrasted with perspectives on multiple sclerosis and depressive disorders. Documentation of the gap between CFS patients and medical professionals adds to feminist critiques of medical practice. However, while this literature generally critiques processes of medicalization of female states and highlights problems of biological reductionism, the CFS literature suggests that female illnesses may also evoke medical reactions which move in the opposite direction, entailing an overfocus on psychological and psychosocial factors to the detriment of adequate attention to phenomena occurring at the biomedical level.