CONSEQUENCES OF XX
WOMEN IN MEDICAL HISTORY
Women like Anarcha Westcott often found themselves vulnerable to medical trial and error. Reproductive experimentation history is among the United States' most harrowing.
PLEASE NOTE: Images and descriptions displayed in this museum may be disturbing for some viewers.
Discretion advised.
ANARCHA'S SPECULUM
The Speculum laid the foundation for speculums used in today’s gynecology offices. This tool, that began as nothing more than a spoon, made its way into the gynecology scene in the 19th century, with its first experimental uses on enslaved women.
[image: Pearson Museum, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. Illustration of Anarcha on an examination table, with enslaved women Lucy and Betsy in the background. Anarcha is examined by Dr. James Marion Sims.]
FEMALE CIRCUMCISION (CLITORECTOMY)
As women began to explore their own sexuality in the late 19th century and early 20th century, men did not welcome the concept with open arms. The solution? Removing the root of female sexuality all together through a procedure known as a clitoridectomy which involved removal of the clitoris and surrounding tissues.
[image: W.G. Rathmann, 1959, Excision Clamp]
OVARIOTOMY
Known by many names, an ovariotomy is a common procedure performed to remove diseased ovaries in women. Before this modern use of the procedure, it was popularized in the mid-19th century as a treatment for women with healthy reproductive organs who had mental disorders.
[image: Doctor performing ovariotomy; anesthetic and steam spray being used, 1882. Doctor performing ovariotomy. Anesthetic being administered; steam spray apparatus being used.]
IT’S COMPLICATED: C-SECTIONS IN U.S. MEDICINE
Before cesarean sections, doctors took drastic measures to deliver a baby with minimal harm to the mother. Yet, the development of the modern-day cesarean section also had a rocky start.
[Image: Living Mom (2013). Depiction of a cross-section of a pregnant woman’s abdomen. Baby is being taken out by hand through a hole at the top of the abdomen.]
ELECTROSHOCK THERAPY USED TO TREAT "INVOLUNTARY MELANCHOLIA"
Electroshock therapy was developed in 1938, and was used for a variety of reasons including the treatment of “geriatric” patients over the age of 40 who were diagnosed with involuntary melancholia, which was described as a type of nervous breakdown.
[Image: Northwestern National Life Insurance Company, 1948. A newspaper article advertising for a longer life for people past 40.]
MENTAL HEALTH REFORMER ELIZABETH PACKARD
Elizabeth Packard was forcibly committed to an asylum in 1860 by her husband due to their differing religious views. She advocated for divorced white women to claim custody of their children and worked for changes to the way these women were committed to mental health institutions.
[Image: Portrait of Elizabeth Packard, courtesy of the University of Toledo library. Elizabeth Packard sitting with one hand in her lap and the other on a stack of books.]
THE WOMEN WHO ENDURED THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL OVARIOTOMIES
The first successful ovariotomy was performed by Dr. Ephraim McDowell on Jane Todd Crawford, and subsequent surgeries on enslaved women at the time whose voices were not heard but should be brought into focus as well.
[Image: Ovariotomy Instruments - Forceps, courtesy of the Catalogue of Surgeon's Instruments and Medical Appliances, 1896. Image shows an illustration of nickel-plated forceps.]
STERILIZATION OF BLACK WOMEN
One of the biggest problems in U.S. history is racism. People of color have always been denied equal opportunities of white men and women, but the right to decide what happens to one’s own body, should not be a matter of skin color.
[Image: Southern Studies Institute, 1971, protesters gathering against sterilization.]
HENRIETTA LACKS AND CERVICAL CANCER TREATMENT AT JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL IN 1950’S
In the 1950s Henrietta Lacks was undergoing cervical cancer treatment at the hands of Dr. Howard Jones. She was put through painful procedures, including the packing of radium up her cervix. This was the reality for many women receiving cervical cancer treatment; and consent for taking their cells was not an option.
[image: Lacks Family. Photograph of Henrietta Lacks]
DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF OVERPROTECTION
When women were excluded from research trials with federal exclusionary practices, it was to protect unborn and potential children. But, when the AIDS epidemic was killing men and women alike, only men were allowed into trials for treatment.
[Image: Litt,T. L, 1989. ACT UP protests healthcare discrimination at Kings County Hospital in June of 1989. In New York, N.Y. June 1989, ACT UP demonstration in front of Kings Country Hospital..]
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"BLACK PAIN ISN'T REAL PAIN"
Racism lingers in the way medicine is practiced on populations of color and it disproportionately affects black women in America. The Black Pain Myth can be traced back to the beginning of this major health injustice.
[Image: Anatomies by starsnostars. Photo of a white hand and a black hand touching in a mirror reflection]
THALIDOMIDE
The Thalidomide scandal in the 1960s revealed the dangers of inadequate drug testing. Despite being marketed as safe, it caused severe birth defects in thousands of infants. This tragedy spurred regulatory reforms and underscored the importance of prioritizing patient safety in pharmaceutical development.
[Image: LearningRadiology.com. Left and Right view of a child exposed to Thalidomide, showing deformation and fusion in the elbow and finger area.]
VIBRATORS: THE CURE FOR HYSTERIA
The vibrator, which was invented in the late 1800s as a medical device to treat the bogus condition of “female hysteria,” paradoxically helped open up discussions about female sexuality while also reflecting disturbing patriarchal attitudes that objectified &medicalized women’s bodies & desires.
[Image: Marlow, (2020), Describes the functions of the vibrator]