In Pursuit of Carnal Knowledge: Rape Culture at the Birth of Gynecological Discourse and Practice
Citations
Abstract
This project seeks to situate the field of gynecology within its sociopolitical, cultural, and economic contexts to address the institutionalized violences that are rendered invisible via rape culture. Through a feminist critical discourse analysis of James Marion Sims’ Clinical Notes (1886), I contextualize the emergent themes of non/force and non/consent within the larger medical and cultural discourse by foregrounding rape culture as a factor in their obfuscation. In doing so, I elucidate that gynecology becomes an agent and perpetrator of sexual violence. The field of gynecology serves as a critical space for intervention, foisting treatment and care, though often re/traumatizing survivors of sexual violence. Previous scholars have explored the nefarious history of the field and its systemic violence, while others have made attempts to alter it into a more progressive, trauma-informed space. However, research has not explicitly addressed the violence inherent in the routinized gynecological practices and treatments themselves.
