做乳房：醫療論述與乳癌病患的身體經驗

Making the Breast: Medical Discourse and Bodily Experiences of Breast Cancer Patients

本研究以乳癌女性病友為個案，探討主流醫學論述對治療乳癌與重建乳房的觀點，及病友們「做性別」的經驗與醫療的社會過程。主流乳癌醫學論述從單純手術切除到出現保留觀念，再到強調乳房整型重建，是以重建作為常規女性氣質的「做性別」意義。本研究從病友身體經驗與病因敘事分析中，看到從賤斥身體到「重生」的多重路徑也是身體認同轉化過程。病友的疾病傳記工作與女性私領域責任等性別結構有關，生病被歸因於傳統「新婦仔」與「女強人」之間的矛盾，但她們以特殊的性別洞察方式，轉為重生契機，但也可能進入混亂敘事，面對不同生命難題。

This essay explores medical discourses of breast cancer treatments and breast reconstruction, and illness narratives of women patients. The way of ‘remaking the breast’ is also a part of the process of ‘doing gender.’ From the surgery techniques of radical mastectomy to oncoplastic surgery, mainstream medical gaze has shifted, and emphasizes the wholeness of the normative feminine body through cosmetic surgery. This research points out that patients’ biographical works of illness and gender identities have been continuously renegotiated after the treatment. From abject bodies to the stage of ‘rebirth,’ women patients experience multiple routes, which cannot be separated from their family responsibilities in the private sphere, work pressure, identity and so on. The cause of illness is attributed to pressures of gender roles between ‘new superwomen’ and traditional ‘sim-pū’. Patients gradually transform their illness narrative into new meanings of different types ‘rebirth’ or enter chaos narrative, while confronting future uncertainties.