Seeing the bigger picture: what is gynaecology for?

King, Helen (2021). Seeing the bigger picture: what is gynaecology for? Ágora: Estudos Clássicos em Debate, 23(1) pp. 17–48.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34624/agora.v0i23.1.25018

Abstract

This paper situates Rodrigo de Castro Lusitano’s De uniuersa mulierum medicina (1603), within the longer history of gynaecology and of the questions raised by having a separate branch of medicine dedicated to women. I argue that the focus of ‘gynaecology’ has historically been on difference: on women’s bodies being seen as fundamentally different from those of men. I argue that one danger of the recent resurrection of a focus on difference is that it could lead to negative changes to women’s roles in society.

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