Description
Book SynopsisIs women's destiny rooted in their biology? This book argues that the definition of femininity as propounded by gynaecological science is a cultural product of a wider, more political context.
Trade Review'Moscucci has highlighted some critical debates concerning women's bodies and medical practice. She … draws on a wide range of material and disciplines to give a focused and coherent argument which provides a stimulating and valuable discussion for anyone interested in gender, the history of medicine and cultural attitudes.' Gender and History
'[This] temperate but powerful study is a model instance of the successful integration of medical and women's history.' Roy Porter, Medical History
'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
Table of ContentsIntroduction; 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.
