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Klappentext Is women's destiny rooted in their biology? Since the end of the eighteenth century the science of gynaecology has legitimised the view that women are 'naturally' fitted for activities in the private sphere of the family. This book argues that the definition of femininity as propounded by gynaecological science is a cultural product of a wider! more political context. Zusammenfassung Is 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. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction; 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....
