Challenging medical knowledge at the source – attempting critical teaching in the health sciences

abstract This Briefing examines the challenges in including feminist gender and sexuality pedagogies in the curricula of the health sciences at the University of Cape Town. Drawing from both personal experience and existing research, the Briefing argues that the positivist paradigm of orthodox health science has historically contributed to oppressions based on difference in race, gender, and sexuality. The Briefing traces our experiences in challenging the dominant paradigm of knowledge production around gender and sexuality in the health sciences. It highlights and contextualises our key challenges and contributes to an emerging conversation about the inclusion of social sciences content into the health sciences, including strategies to influence the health sciences paradigm from within.

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