CLA232 â Lecture 14
CLA232 – Lecture 14
Hippo. Tries to explain medicine based on physis but nomos creeps in Sex=physis, gender=nomos Works try to focus on sex/biology but influenced by gender Sex already shaped by nomos/social expectations Aristotle – Greek living in Athens in 4th century Galen – Greek from Asia Minor, writing in 2nd century A.D. (after Roman rule) Female health = reproductive health, similar to today (ie. In US women’s doctor = OBGYN) Hysteria caused by wondering womb, continued to 19th century Male body is norm and female body is the oddity, still continues Doctors usually male In texts, male doctors inquiring into female body Male self = observer, female body = the observed Women are passive, males creative/active o Ie. 331, both have sperm but female’s are passive and need male sperm to activate Female’s body strange phenomenon for males Male writers, writing for male males so use strange metaphors they will understand Male doctors need females to tell them what’s wrong (bit can’t b/c not rational) and doctors cant proceed as if treating male o Female = exotic specimen Women ask and advise each other about their sicknesses o Ie. Spontaneous abortion, H. Excited to see embryo, girl jumps up and down, embyo dropped down with clatter, female body = data to H. o H. Also eludes to women saying taht when pregnant the seed stays inside Hipp. (343) says get women to feel if womb is smooth o Hippo. Cant do it himself b/c respect, no way to reference whether smooth or not Soranus – wrote training manual for midwifes o Tells how/who good midwife, i.e. long fingers, literate (so can read text), intelligent o Tells how to induce abortion /miscarriage but only if mother’s health at stake not for vanity Different male vs. Female physiology o Temperature – women colder o Males hard body, females soft o Male is procreative/active one o Same genitals but male outside, females inside – (351) Galen: mole eyes, eyes are useless like female’s imperfect inward genitals, unfortunate for females but good for human race, b/c women cold don’t have heat to push out genitals and don’t burn off all their nutrients so can feed babies Male and female two variations of the same sex Definition of female= imperfect male/incomplete male o Boys and women similar but boys grow into men and women permanently stunted One sex theory – difference between men and women is gender Aristotle - different not because of physiology (both have semen) but quality matters o Allows him to deny the woman’s role in procreation (women provides clay, man shapes the clay into statue) Father is only real parent, mother is like incubator o Mother is stranger to the child
Strange cases where females give birth without males, give birth to “moles” (not like animals, hairy ball with teeth o Women imperfect therefore child imperfect o i.e. Hephesteus (sp?) – mother is Hera, no father writers slip from differences to hierarchy easily, Galen could have reached conclusion that females superiority or they are just different (no one superior), so by saying males superior see that nomos/gender has influenced his arguments sex is extrapolated from gender, use what know of gender to explain the difference in sex for medical writers, women’s health = being able to produce children says women can experience sexual pleasure but stops once sperm reaches uterus, only interested in the reproductive side of this Hippo. (341) – women have control over whether there will be a baby or not, women expels sperm if don’t want a baby o Suggests its dangerous for women to have this control and gynecology can be seena s a way for males to take control back Women inherently pathological (too much liquid, too cold) o Hippo. Suggests nomos plays a role as well, men burn off extra liquid with exercise which women don’t Women’s body out of balance, ie. Menstruation = female’s body need to get rid of extra fluid Wandering womb (Hippo., 341) – when empty womb floats through body with liver looking for moisture Another view, women want to be pregnant all the time, when doesn’t happen womb wanders around in lust for semen (Plato’s view), like animal All writers seem to think uterus has mind of its own This is problem with virgins – get suicidal because blockage of menstrual fluids, Hippo.’s solution = have children o Hippo. Using physis to prove/support nomos To get over imperfection, women must fulfil social role
Hippo. Tries to explain medicine based on physis but nomos creeps in Sex=physis, gender=nomos Works try to focus on sex/biology but influenced by gender Sex already shaped by nomos/social expectations Aristotle – Greek living in Athens in 4th century Galen – Greek from Asia Minor, writing in 2nd century A.D. (after Roman rule) Female health = reproductive health, similar to today (ie. In US women’s doctor = OBGYN) Hysteria caused by wondering womb, continued to 19th century Male body is norm and female body is the oddity, still continues Doctors usually male In texts, male doctors inquiring into female body Male self = observer, female body = the observed Women are passive, males creative/active o Ie. 331, both have sperm but female’s are passive and need male sperm to activate Female’s body strange phenomenon for males Male writers, writing for male males so use strange metaphors they will understand Male doctors need females to tell them what’s wrong (bit can’t b/c not rational) and doctors cant proceed as if treating male o Female = exotic specimen Women ask and advise each other about their sicknesses o Ie. Spontaneous abortion, H. Excited to see embryo, girl jumps up and down, embyo dropped down with clatter, female body = data to H. o H. Also eludes to women saying taht when pregnant the seed stays inside Hipp. (343) says get women to feel if womb is smooth o Hippo. Cant do it himself b/c respect, no way to reference whether smooth or not Soranus – wrote training manual for midwifes o Tells how/who good midwife, i.e. long fingers, literate (so can read text), intelligent o Tells how to induce abortion /miscarriage but only if mother’s health at stake not for vanity Different male vs. Female physiology o Temperature – women colder o Males hard body, females soft o Male is procreative/active one o Same genitals but male outside, females inside – (351) Galen: mole eyes, eyes are useless like female’s imperfect inward genitals, unfortunate for females but good for human race, b/c women cold don’t have heat to push out genitals and don’t burn off all their nutrients so can feed babies Male and female two variations of the same sex Definition of female= imperfect male/incomplete male o Boys and women similar but boys grow into men and women permanently stunted One sex theory – difference between men and women is gender Aristotle - different not because of physiology (both have semen) but quality matters o Allows him to deny the woman’s role in procreation (women provides clay, man shapes the clay into statue) Father is only real parent, mother is like incubator o Mother is stranger to the child
Strange cases where females give birth without males, give birth to “moles” (not like animals, hairy ball with teeth o Women imperfect therefore child imperfect o i.e. Hephesteus (sp?) – mother is Hera, no father writers slip from differences to hierarchy easily, Galen could have reached conclusion that females superiority or they are just different (no one superior), so by saying males superior see that nomos/gender has influenced his arguments sex is extrapolated from gender, use what know of gender to explain the difference in sex for medical writers, women’s health = being able to produce children says women can experience sexual pleasure but stops once sperm reaches uterus, only interested in the reproductive side of this Hippo. (341) – women have control over whether there will be a baby or not, women expels sperm if don’t want a baby o Suggests its dangerous for women to have this control and gynecology can be seena s a way for males to take control back Women inherently pathological (too much liquid, too cold) o Hippo. Suggests nomos plays a role as well, men burn off extra liquid with exercise which women don’t Women’s body out of balance, ie. Menstruation = female’s body need to get rid of extra fluid Wandering womb (Hippo., 341) – when empty womb floats through body with liver looking for moisture Another view, women want to be pregnant all the time, when doesn’t happen womb wanders around in lust for semen (Plato’s view), like animal All writers seem to think uterus has mind of its own This is problem with virgins – get suicidal because blockage of menstrual fluids, Hippo.’s solution = have children o Hippo. Using physis to prove/support nomos To get over imperfection, women must fulfil social role
