Brian Pointer
Cameo WoodA small act of resistance from the female indexer of the 1980 edition of Williams Obstetrics. (Via https://twitter.com/LaraBriden) #Medical #History #Obstetrics #Indices #Feminism
Just added a description on the image- hit ‘post’ a little too quickly.
john spurling@Cameo According to this post, the act was performed by Signe Pritchard, the wife of one of the editors!
https://howardisms.com/other-stuff/williams-obstetrics-and-male-chauvinism/
@synec this is great! Thanks for this!
Melanie Stefan
Eva Chanda@synec @Cameo
I wonder if she or her husband knew about how Marion Sims, the "Father of Gynecology," developed his techniques, well beyond male chauvinism... TL;DR: he operated on enslaved women, without anesthesia (not commonly used the time), though the article below notes he sought their consent & cooperation (though legally he only required the owners' consent), with the goal of benefiting these women, who suffered terribly from their condition.
https://www.britishjournalofmidwifery.com/content/comment/j-marion-sims-and-the-forgotten-women-of-gynaecology/
I wonder if she or her husband knew about how Marion Sims, the "Father of Gynecology," developed his techniques, well beyond male chauvinism... TL;DR: he operated on enslaved women, without anesthesia (not commonly used the time), though the article below notes he sought their consent & cooperation (though legally he only required the owners' consent), with the goal of benefiting these women, who suffered terribly from their condition.
https://www.britishjournalofmidwifery.com/content/comment/j-marion-sims-and-the-forgotten-women-of-gynaecology/
British Journal Of Midwifery - J Marion Sims and the ‘forgotten women of gynaecology’
‘To the indomitable courage of these long-suffering women, more than to any one other single circumstance, is the world indebted for the results of these persevering efforts. Had they faltered, then would women have continued to suffer from the dreadful injuries produced by parturition, and then should the broad domain of surgery not have known one of the most useful improvements that shall forever hereafter grace its annals’..
@synec @Cameo
He never named the women publicly, who even assisted him during and after surgery, but 3 women—Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy— are now formally recognized by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology for their contributions to progress in OB/GYN, and honored every year on Feb 28 for Black History Month & Mar 1 for Women's History Month. https://www.acog.org/about/diversity-equity-and-inclusive-excellence/betsey-lucy-and-anarcha-days-of-recognition
He never named the women publicly, who even assisted him during and after surgery, but 3 women—Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy— are now formally recognized by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology for their contributions to progress in OB/GYN, and honored every year on Feb 28 for Black History Month & Mar 1 for Women's History Month. https://www.acog.org/about/diversity-equity-and-inclusive-excellence/betsey-lucy-and-anarcha-days-of-recognition
@synec
@Cameo
There's a Mothers of Gynecology monument honoring Anarcha, Betsy & Lucy in Montgomery, AL. #SayTheirNames BTW Anarcha is an awesome name!
The artist bought the building where Sims conducted his experiments and plans to turn it into a museum & clinic. Here's the website with more info & a button for donations.
https://www.anarchalucybetsey.org/
@Cameo
There's a Mothers of Gynecology monument honoring Anarcha, Betsy & Lucy in Montgomery, AL. #SayTheirNames BTW Anarcha is an awesome name!
The artist bought the building where Sims conducted his experiments and plans to turn it into a museum & clinic. Here's the website with more info & a button for donations.
https://www.anarchalucybetsey.org/
Anarcha Lucy Betsey Monument | Montgomery | More Up Campus
Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey were enslaved women from plantations near Montgomery, Alabama. They were experimented on by Dr. J. Marion Sims, without consent, in the 1840s. The More Up campus, featuring a 12-foot public monument to these women, will shine a light on systemic racism in society.
stiffelman@Cameo I so love this. Truly genius move.
Dave Tabb@Cameo I am so delighted to learn that this is real!
The note about chauvinism in this Obstetrics text apparently endured from the 16th edition to the 17th edition. I loved this quote from GoodReads:
"there is the sense that physicians are at war with the female body and in their desire to control fetal outcome work to make the maternal body as docile as possible"
#feminism
Kristi Siegel's review of Williams Obstetrics
1/5: Intrigue! Obstetrics? Gynecology? An anecdote first: The male doctors who authored a couple of the editions of Williams Obstetrics had their wives complete the index. In the 16th and 17th edition the women added subversively, "Chauvinism, male, voluminous amounts, 1-1102," which is the entire book, excluding the index. I love it. Two papers presented at a Modern Language Association conference some years ago help to situate the rhetoric dominant in Williams Obstetrics, a primary obstetrical text. The two papers, presented back to back in a session entitled “Women and Science,” formed ...
@dtabb73 yes! And @synec posted this, which implies the index was created by the author’s wife: https://howardisms.com/other-stuff/williams-obstetrics-and-male-chauvinism/
Riley S. Faelan
Kate Bowers ArchivistExcellent find!
Cedar Fen Farm
Cedar Fen Farm
🦇 Jennie Rigg 🏳️🌈 (she/her)@Cameo always boost that one
Court Cantrell does not comply@Cameo Ohhhh, J'ADORE! 😆😍
cath