Deirdre Cooper Owens

“Deirdre Cooper Owens reexamines the familiar narrative about modern gynecology techniques like the surgical repair of vesico-vaginal fistulae, a common condition caused in childbirth. These techniques were developed using the bodies of enslaved women or poor women, with J. Marion Sims usually credited for these advances and hailed as the so-called father of modern American gynecology. Medical Bondage turns the story on its head by focusing on the women whose bodies were the subjects of the research over the years. Owens shows the experiments were part of a history of the misuse of Black bodies and how the research was driven by deep racial misperceptions, such as the idea that Black women were less sensitive to pain when compared to white women. Across gynecology, she shows that Black women and immigrant women were frequently subject to an unforgiving medical gaze that denied their full humanity. And she positions their suffering and sacrifice, as well as their work as nurses, as central to the development of these pioneering experiments. By focusing on the women, rather than J. Marion Sims, she inverts the traditional story of discovery and heroism.” Read more...

Best History of Medicine Books

Keith Wailoo, Historian