Precocious little monsters and the birth of puberty science: tracing early puberty as a health matter

Pinto, Pedro; Macleod, Catriona I

Title: Precocious little monsters and the birth of puberty science: tracing early puberty as a health matter
Creator: Pinto, Pedro, Macleod, Catriona I
Date: 2015
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143626
Identifier: vital:38268
Identifier: https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
Description: Over the last two decades, early puberty has been increasingly portrayed in scientific and popular arenas as an alarming health issue. Changes in pubertal timing are frequently accorded a range of medical and moral dangers, suggesting individual degeneracy and social crisis. In our presentation – the first output of a Foucauldian genealogical investigation on pubertal knowledge in medical journals – we show that today’s problematisations of early puberty are rooted in the figure of the child monster, as produced in early nineteenth century medical discourse. Drawing on doctors’ clinical encounters with the pubescent body as represented in medical journals during that period, we argue that puberty, understood as a scientific construct, has been ‘praecox’ since the beginning. From this genealogical viewpoint, we explore the ways in which our present ‘pubertal complex’ talks to an old medical dilemma: the confusion of maturity and immaturity within the young body.
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP), Pinto, P and Macleod, C, 2015. Precocious little monsters and the birth of puberty science: tracing early puberty as a health matter. International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP). 9th Biennial Conference, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP) volume 2015 number 0 2015
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Rhodes University Proatia Statement (https://www.ru.ac.za//governance/proatia/)

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Gender Action Forum (GENACT)

RU Department of Psychology

Macleod, Catriona Ida (Distinguished Professor)

SDG 05. Gender Equality

RU DST/NRF SARChI for Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproductions Research (CSSR) Programme

SDG 10. Reduced Inequalities

SDG 03. Good Health and Well-Being

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