Personal, community, and societal influences of femininity create a unique entry point for the analysis of a woman’s decision whether to undergo reconstructive breast surgery following a mastectomy. To date, insufficient attention has been given to the impact of altered appearance in women who have had mastectomies due to breast cancer. Due to differing personal perceptions of femininity, every woman’s experience with their altered physical appearance post-mastectomy must be realized as unique. This study looks to explore the interaction in which perspective and experience inform and shape each other. It does this by acknowledging the relationship between femininity, treatment decision-making, body modification, and the relationship between body and self. The population includes individuals who have undergone mastectomy surgery with or without breast reconstructive surgery and healthcare professionals who work with the former individuals. The primary method of data collection includes semi-structured interviews and observation at Swedish Hospital. The interviews are conducted at a time and location convinent for the participant and ranged from 45-150 minutes. The observationship consists of shadowing a breast surgeon in multiple capacities — clinical visits, consultations, pre-op visits, post-op visits, and procedures in the operating room. This research focuses on the experience of a changed body which is important as breast cancer continues to be a highly prevalent disease.

This research looks at the ways the complex interpersonal relationships among medical professionals, family members, and disabled persons affect the medical care received by people with disabilities. It explores power and control, both in the context of family and clinical environments, looking at how the cultural construction of disability plays into the practice of medical decision making, and ultimately their effect on the enactment of medical care for people with disabilities throughout their lives. By conducting semi-structured ethnographic interviews, focus groups and autoethnographic reflexivity, this project explores how participant narratives interact, using a critical feminist disability studies lens. These complicated autonomies, influenced by sociocultural conceptions of disability, dynamics of family interaction, and perceptions and practices of medical professionals become the lived experiences of disabled people and fundamentally alter the ways in which they receive care.