The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929

ISBN-13: 9780521447959 / Angielski / Miękka / 1993 / 292 str.

Ornella Moscucci; Charles Rosenberg; Colin Jones

Opis

Is women's destiny rooted in their biology? Since the end of the eighteenth century the science of gynecology has legitimized the view that women are "naturally" fitted for activities in the private sphere of the family. This book argues that the definition of femininity as propounded by gynecological science is a cultural product of a wider, more political context. Providing a unique account of gynecology in practice, it shifts the historical focus from the use to the production of ideas about "women's nature." Dr. Moscucci traces the origins of gynecology to the emergence of a predictable "science of man" in the late eighteenth century and charts the ideological, professional and institutional development of the subject up to the foundation of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1929. Case-studies of Victorian gynecological practice at two London hospitals illustrate the changing pattern of institutional gynecology, affording valuable insight into the relationship between gynecologists and patients. The book also stresses the equal importance of class and gender ideology in shaping medical views about women's diseases and their treatment.

Recenzje

'The Science of Woman deserves to be read by anyone interested in the history of professionalization and the emergence of specialisms as well as of sexuality and gender.' Michael Bevan, Social History of Medicine

Spis treści

Introduction; Part I. The Problem of Femininity: 1. Woman's sexuality and population concerns; 2. Woman's place in nature; 3. Nature and the environment; 4. A theory of femininity; 5. Physiology and social roles; Part II. Men-Midwives and Medicine: The Origins of a Profession: 6. Midwives and accoucheurs; 7. The 'obstetric revolution' and eighteenth-century medical politics; 8. The nineteenth century: obstetrics, gynaecology and general practice; 9. Educated accoucheurs; Part III. The Rise of the Women's Hospitals: 10. Hospitals, specialists and nineteenth-century medicine; 11. The first women's hospital; 12. A moral institution; 13. The Chelsea Hospital for Women; Part IV. Woman and her diseases: 14. The pathology of femininity; 15. Surgical analysis; 16. Penetrating private parts: the 'speculum question'; 17. Precept and practice; Part V. The 'Unsexing' of Women: 18. Early controversies; 19. A question of values; 20. Pathological pregnancies; 21. The triumph of ovariotomy; 22. The Imlach affair; Part VI. From the British Gynaecological Society to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists: 23. The 'handcuffed obstetrician'; 24. The Meadows incident; 25. A British gynaecological society; 26. A college of obstetricians and gynaecologists; 27. Restructuring the profession; Conclusion; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography.