More perfect women, more perfect medicine: women and the evolution of obstetrics and gynecology, 1880-1920
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Date
2010-06
Authors
Adkins, Carrie Pauline
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This thesis argues that women were instrumental in creating the period of
transformation that took place in American obstetrics and gynecology during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Historians have emphasized the ways that male
physicians victimized female patients, but in the academic, professional, and public
worlds, women directly influenced these specialties. As intellectuals and educators,
women challenged existing ideas about their presence in academia and shaped evolving
medical school curricula. As specialists, they debated the ethics of operative gynecology
and participated in the medical construction of the female body. Finally, as activists, they
demanded that obstetricians and gynecologists adopt treatments they believed were
desirable. In doing so, they took part in larger debates about gender difference, gender
equality, and the relationship between women's physical bodies and social roles.
Description
viii, 96 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.
Keywords
Obstetrics -- United States -- History, Gynecology -- United States -- History