Susan Cayleff (born 1954) is an American academic and emeritus professor at San Diego State University, having taught there from 1987 to 2020.
She was one the inaugural members of the National Women's Studies Association Lesbian Caucus and served on the organization's Coordinating Council between 1977 and 1979.
[5] She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in women's studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1976.
[7][8] She was elected to serve on the Coordinating Council as part of the Lesbian Caucus, along with Tucker Farley, Elisa Buenaventura, and Toni McNaron[9] from 1977 to 1979.
[13] Her study evaluated women as both users and providers of health therapies and how the traditions regarding their bodies and the environment were perceived and shaped by social norms which defined the doctor-patient relationship.
Scholar Beth A. Robertson noted that Cayleff saw this extreme control and scrutiny as a driving factor in American and Canadian women's search for medical alternatives.
[23] Other works, such as Self-Help and the Patent Medicine Business, analyzed how different ethnic and cultural groups beliefs shaped women's own perceptions of their health and treatment.
[26] The essays chosen from African-, Asian-, Native American and Latina contributors evaluated the intersection of health policy and practices with gender, poverty, and race.
It discussed the body autonomy women gained for themselves and their families from associations with natural healers and philosophers, in spite of the cultural reliance on scientific expertise of medical practitioners and pharmaceutical science.
[30] The book also examined the relationship of Zaharias and fellow golfer Betty Dodd, contrasting their emotional commitment with her marital bond.