The Hormone of Growth and Hope. The Case of Turner Syndrome
Keywords:
growth hormone, Turner Syndrome, technology, materialityAbstract
Turner Syndrome (TS) is a condition that affects only girls and women and involves a partial or complete absence of the X chromosome. It is a well recognized medical condition and a multidimensional cultural fact that has appeared in specific historical, social and geographical contexts. TS is characterized by, among others, short stature, and ovarian failure. Girls with TS are put on estrogen replacement therapy and growth hormone treatment, which means a daily injection, starting at around 5 years of age or later and usually continuing until around 15. Without this treatment, girls suffering from it would be on average 20 cms shorter than women unaffected by it. In this text, I intend to look at the biosocial work of the growth hormone. I examine the purpose of it, and describe the work of hope being carried out in reference to hormone treatment. It is a technology, which is adaptable and flexible and from my perspective, hormones are “fluid objects”. I present both the daily regimes and the regular biomedical controls taking place regarding GH treatment, describe the private and public histories of growth hormone therapy, and analyse an experience of the materiality of hormones, focusing on a pen injector device.
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References
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Ho n g D., K e n t J. S., K e s l e r S. 2009. Cognitive profile of Turner Syndrome. Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews 15(4), 270–278.
I r n i S. 2013. Sex, Power and Ontology: Exploring the Performativity of Hormones. NORA—Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 21(1), 41–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2012.757249. Access: 10.02.2019.
J a c y n o M. 2007. Kultura indywidualizmu. Warszawa.
K a s t r u p K. W. 2009, Turner syndrome in childhood. In D. H. Gavholt (ed.), Turner – Know Your Body! An information book on Turner Syndrome. Gothenburg, 12–17.
K r a w c z a k A. forthcoming. Calineczki. O społecznych konstrukcjach zespołu Turnera. In A. Karpowicz and M. Rakoczy (eds.), Communicare. Almanach antropologiczny 8. Warszawa.
K u c h a r s k a A. 2019. Zespół Turnera. Aspekty medyczne. In E. Maciejewska-Mroczek, M. Radkowska--Walkowicz, M. Reimann (eds.), Zespół Turnera. Głosy i doświadczenia. Warszawa.
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L a g r o u K. et al. 2003. Psychosocial Functioning, Self-Perception and Body Image and Their Auxologic Correlates in Growth Hormone and Oestrogen-Treated Young Adult Women with Turner Syndrome. Hormone Research 66, 277–284.
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R o b e r t s C. 2007. Messengers of Sex: Hormones, Biomedicine, and Feminism. Cambridge, New York.
R o b e r t s C. 2015. Puberty in crisis. The Sociology of Early Sexual Development. Cambridge.
S a c h s M., D y k e s F., C a r t e r B. 2006. Feeding by numbers: an ethnographic study of how breastfeeding women understand their babies’ weight charts. International Breastfeeding Journal 22, 1–29.
S a n a b r i a E. 2016. Plastic Bodies: Sex Hormones and Menstrual Suppression in Brazil. Durham and London.
S k u s e D. 2009. Psychological and Psychiatric Aspects of Turner Syndrome. In D. H. Gavholt (ed.), Turner – Know Your Body! An information book on Turner Syndrome. Gothenburg, 200–217.
S u t t o n E., Mc In e r n e y - L e o A., B o n d y C. A., G o l l u s t S. E., K i n g D., Bi e s e c k e r B. 2005. Turner syndrome: four challenges across the lifespan. American Journal of Medical Genetics 139, 57–66.
Ś w i ą t k i e w i c z - M o ś n y M. 2010. Tożsamość napiętnowana. Socjologiczne stadium mechanizmów stygmatyzacji i autostygmatyzacji na przykładzie kobiet z zespołem Turnera. Kraków.
T a t a J. R. 2005. One hundred years of hormones. EMBO Reports 6, 490–496.
T e i l m a n n G. et al. 2009. Chronic disease in adolescents. In D. H. Gavholt (ed.), Turner – Know Your Body! An information book on Turner Syndrome. Gothenburg, 44–55.
B a r a d K. 2007. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham and London.
d e L a e t M. and Mo l A. 2000. The Zimbabwe Bush Pump: Mechanics of a Fluid technology. Social Studies of Science 30(2), 225–263.
D e n z i n N. 2006. Sociological Methods: A Sourcebook. Aldine Transcation.
G a w l i k A., A n t o s z A., W i l k K., M a ł e c k a - Te n d e r a E. 2013. Opieka medyczna w zespole Turnera – z praktycznego punktu widzenia. Endokrynologia Pediatryczna 12 (3[44]), 55–69.
Ho g l e L. F. 2005. Enhancement technologies and the body. Annual Review of Anthropology 34, 695–716.
Ho n g D., K e n t J. S., K e s l e r S. 2009. Cognitive profile of Turner Syndrome. Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews 15(4), 270–278.
I r n i S. 2013. Sex, Power and Ontology: Exploring the Performativity of Hormones. NORA—Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 21(1), 41–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2012.757249. Access: 10.02.2019.
J a c y n o M. 2007. Kultura indywidualizmu. Warszawa.
K a s t r u p K. W. 2009, Turner syndrome in childhood. In D. H. Gavholt (ed.), Turner – Know Your Body! An information book on Turner Syndrome. Gothenburg, 12–17.
K r a w c z a k A. forthcoming. Calineczki. O społecznych konstrukcjach zespołu Turnera. In A. Karpowicz and M. Rakoczy (eds.), Communicare. Almanach antropologiczny 8. Warszawa.
K u c h a r s k a A. 2019. Zespół Turnera. Aspekty medyczne. In E. Maciejewska-Mroczek, M. Radkowska--Walkowicz, M. Reimann (eds.), Zespół Turnera. Głosy i doświadczenia. Warszawa.
L a g r o u K. 2017. Psychological aspects of Turner Syndrome. Lecture at the University of Warsaw, 9th October. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsGvHflqbQU. Access: 02.10.2019.
L a g r o u K. et al. 2003. Psychosocial Functioning, Self-Perception and Body Image and Their Auxologic Correlates in Growth Hormone and Oestrogen-Treated Young Adult Women with Turner Syndrome. Hormone Research 66, 277–284.
L e B r e t o n D. 2004. Genetic fundamentalism or the cult of the gene. Body & Society 10(4), 1–20.
L ö w y I. 2019. Złożona historia zespołu Turnera. In E. Maciejewska-Mroczek, M. Radkowska-Walkowicz, M. Reimann (eds.), Zespół Turnera. Głosy i doświadczenia. Warszawa.
M a c i e j e w s k a -M r o c z e k A. 2018. Badanie grupowe z udziałem dzieci. Aspekty etyczne i praktyczne. In M. Radkowska-Walkowicz, M. Reimann (eds.), Dzieci i zdrowie. Wstęp do childhood studies. Warszawa 2018, 35–60.
M a r c u s G. 1995. Ethnography in/of the World System. The Emergence of an Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology 24, 95–117.
M e d v e i V. C. 1982. A History of Endocrinology. Lancaster.
M o l A., M o s e r I., P o l s A. J. 2010. Care in Practice: On Tinkering in Clinics, Homes and Farms. Bielefeld.
M u r r a y T. H. 2009. Enhancement. In: B. Steinbock (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics. Oxford, 491–515.
N o w a k o w s k i M. 2015. Medykalizacja i demedykalziacja. Zdrowie i choroba w czasach kapitalizmu zdezorganizowanego. Lublin.
R a d k o w s k a -W a l k o w i c z M. 2012. The creation of ‘monsters’: the discourse of opposition to in vitro fertilization in Poland. Reproductive Health Matters 20 (40), 30–37.
R a d k o w s k a -W a l k o w i c z M. 2014. Mleko matki. Wstęp do antropologii jedzenia dla najmłodszych. In A. Wieczorkiewicz and U. Jarecka (eds.), Terytoria smaku. Studia z antropologii i socjologii jedzenia. Warszawa, 17–47.
R a j t a r , M. 2019. Bioetyka i technologie wzmacniania ludzkiego ciała w kontekście doświadczeń kobiet z zespołem Turnera. In E. Maciejewska-Mroczek, M. Radkowska-Walkowicz, M. Reimann (eds.), Zespół Turnera. Głosy i doświadczenia. Warszawa.
R o b e r t s C. 2007. Messengers of Sex: Hormones, Biomedicine, and Feminism. Cambridge, New York.
R o b e r t s C. 2015. Puberty in crisis. The Sociology of Early Sexual Development. Cambridge.
S a c h s M., D y k e s F., C a r t e r B. 2006. Feeding by numbers: an ethnographic study of how breastfeeding women understand their babies’ weight charts. International Breastfeeding Journal 22, 1–29.
S a n a b r i a E. 2016. Plastic Bodies: Sex Hormones and Menstrual Suppression in Brazil. Durham and London.
S k u s e D. 2009. Psychological and Psychiatric Aspects of Turner Syndrome. In D. H. Gavholt (ed.), Turner – Know Your Body! An information book on Turner Syndrome. Gothenburg, 200–217.
S u t t o n E., Mc In e r n e y - L e o A., B o n d y C. A., G o l l u s t S. E., K i n g D., Bi e s e c k e r B. 2005. Turner syndrome: four challenges across the lifespan. American Journal of Medical Genetics 139, 57–66.
Ś w i ą t k i e w i c z - M o ś n y M. 2010. Tożsamość napiętnowana. Socjologiczne stadium mechanizmów stygmatyzacji i autostygmatyzacji na przykładzie kobiet z zespołem Turnera. Kraków.
T a t a J. R. 2005. One hundred years of hormones. EMBO Reports 6, 490–496.
T e i l m a n n G. et al. 2009. Chronic disease in adolescents. In D. H. Gavholt (ed.), Turner – Know Your Body! An information book on Turner Syndrome. Gothenburg, 44–55.
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Published
2019-12-15
How to Cite
Radkowska-Walkowicz, M. (2019). The Hormone of Growth and Hope. The Case of Turner Syndrome. Ethnologia Polona, 40, 13–28. Retrieved from https://journals.iaepan.pl/ethp/article/view/14
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