Elson, Jean

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Elson, Jean

PERSONAL: Children: G. David Poznik, Jessica Elson Poznik. Education: Boston University, M.A. (counseling and educational psychology); Brandeis University, M.A., 1996, Ph.D., 2000.

ADDRESSES: Office—Sociology Department, Horton Social Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Educational psychologist and counselor. University of New Hampshire, Durham, lecturer in sociology department.

MEMBER: American Sociological Association, Sociologists for Women in Society, Society for the Study of Social Problems, Society for Menstrual Cycle Research.

AWARDS, HONORS: Elizabeth Stanton Michaels fellowship, American Association of University Women.

WRITINGS:

"Am I Still a Woman?": Hysterectomy and Gender Identity, Temple University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

Also contributor to scholarly journals, including Gender & Society, Sex Roles, and Contemporary Sociology; and to periodicals, including Parents, Family Journal, and Newsday.

SIDELIGHTS: Sociologist and educator Jean Elson confronts a delicate and often painful subject in "Am I Still a Woman?": Hysterectomy and Gender Identity. Through interviews with forty-four women whose ages extend to ninety-seven, Elson provides an overview of the varied psychological effects caused by removal of one's uterus. Though largely drawn from medium-sized New England towns, the women varied in socioeconomic status as well as age, and Elson made a special effort to seek out lesbians as well as straight women.

As Anne Marie Todkill explained in the Women's Review of Books, while "'Anecdote' is typically assigned to the bottom rung of evidence in mainstream medical research … there is no more powerful teaching tool than a story, despite the danger of 'reading in' too much." For most subjects, loss of the womb did make them feel less whole and less feminine, but some actually felt better, less depressed, or relieved after years of suffering. There was also a marked contrast based on the attitudes of partners. As Elson told an interviewer for Women's Health, "Some partners were not supportive, and a few were actually destructive to the women's sense of self. For example, a couple of women were told by their partners that they were not really women anymore and that this justified their husband's infidelities." Altogether, for Library Journal contributor Barbara M. Bibel, "Am I Still a Woman?" "offers a unique perspective on the ongoing debate over the surgery."