This thesis analyses, theorises, and contextualises the fusion of endometriosis and patriarchal medical violence from a sociological-culturological critical feminist point of view. The historical discourses on endometriosis in the West over the past 2,500 years are introduced, which provides the basic framework for a sociological analysis of endometriosis in modern societies. The thesis has two essential parts: the first focuses on female pain and the second on patriarchal medical violence. In the first part, with the help of women's stories published on the webside of the Endozavest – Society for raising awareness for endometriosis in Slovenia, three ways of perceiving and managing women's pain are presented: understanding pain as dramatized pain, as a mental illness, and as a “female deficit”. In the second part, a composite typology of patriarchal medical violence is presented and interpreted on the case in question, which is manifested in the creation of ignorance, in wrongful approaches, and procedures of the medical treatment of disease, in the discursive and physical violence. The discussion defends the thesis that the disappearance of traditional forms of femininity should not be mourned. What is regrettable is a loss of possibilities as a result of the medical impact on endometriosis and patients, leading to a loss of autonomy. Playing with contemporary perceptions of femininity is possible based on the analysis of the construction of »endo femininity« as unsuccessful and problematic. The thesis highlights the role of physical pain in the medical system, which, by keeping bodies in pain, pushes women into specific unwanted patriarchal sexual and reproductive roles.
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