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Medical Gaze Sans Bioethics: Revisiting Enslaved Black Women's Medical Bondage in Behind the Sheet.

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Τίτλος: Medical Gaze Sans Bioethics: Revisiting Enslaved Black Women's Medical Bondage in Behind the Sheet.
Συγγραφείς: Madhu S; Department of English, School of Humanities and Management, National Institute of Technology, Tadepalligudem, Andhra Pradesh, India., Jose S; School of Humanities and Management, National Institute of Technology, Tadepalligudem, Andhra Pradesh, India. soumyajose@nitandhra.ac.in.
Πηγή: The Journal of medical humanities [J Med Humanit] 2025 Dec; Vol. 46 (4), pp. 637-654. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Jan 04.
Τύπος έκδοσης: Journal Article; Historical Article
Γλώσσα: English
Στοιχεία περιοδικού: Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 8917478 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1573-3645 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10413545 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Med Humanit Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Publication: New York, NY : Springer
Original Publication: New York, N.Y. : Human Sciences Press, [c1989-
Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): Bioethics*/history , Black or African American*/history , Enslavement*/history , Gynecology*/history , Gynecology*/ethics, Vesicovaginal Fistula/history ; Vesicovaginal Fistula/surgery ; Female ; Humans ; History, 19th Century ; United States
Περίληψη: The birth of modern gynecology in the USA is preceded by experimental exploitations of Black women's bodies in the mid-nineteenth century, entailing a long-drawn extraction of "reproductive knowledge" from enslaved patients. Charly Evon Simpson's Behind the Sheet (2019) stages the history of medical bondage of Black enslaved women in antebellum South, reconstructing the events that led to the surgical innovation for vesico-vaginal fistula. Scrutinizing Simpson's dramatization of the event, this paper prompts inquiries into the interplay of power and consent between the physician and the enslaved patient in plantation healthcare, highlighting the need to reexamine bioethical principles. Using the theoretical framework of medical gaze propounded by Foucault and further developed by Susan Greenhalgh, the paper analyzes the operation of white patriarchal power and the construction of physician heroism in the medical sphere. Investigating the realm of bodily autonomy in the context of medical bondage, the paper attempts to render a "herstorical" standpoint on the contributions of enslaved Black women to the field of gynecology.
(© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)
Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.
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Contributed Indexing: Keywords: Biopower; Black superbody; Gynecology; Informed consent; Medical plantation; Medical racism
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20250104 Date Completed: 20260107 Latest Revision: 20260108
Update Code: 20260130
DOI: 10.1007/s10912-024-09921-6
PMID: 39754659
Βάση Δεδομένων: MEDLINE
Περιγραφή
ISSN:1573-3645
DOI:10.1007/s10912-024-09921-6