We have been taught that science is rational and binary, yet medicine can never be truly objective – it resides at the heart of a society and strikes at the core of what it means to be human.
In a discipline devoted to caring for the vulnerable, many have been let down, repeatedly ignored and written off due to prejudices deeply engrained in our society. Medicine will always reflect our values, therefore as we move away from the paternalistic doctor, and towards patient-centred care where we are listened to and believed, it’s important to remember where the roots of medicine come from to better understand why so many women have been and still are mistreated.
Origins of Medicine
In a culture that placed a high value on leading healthy lifestyles, philosophers in Ancient Greece created the foundations of Western medicine as a separate discipline from philosophy. And, of course, at a time where women had few civil rights, theories explaining how women were inferior to men became common.
Anatomical and psychological differences
Many philosophers attempted to compare the female and male bodies, choosing to see the male as the perfect prototype. Aristotle described the female body as the inverse of a male, with its genitalia “turn’d outside in.” They concluded differences in anatomy meant women were faulty whilst men were superior. Women were viewed as less capable than men, and more emotional.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Hippocratic Corpus
Hippocrates, ‘the father of medicine’, who transformed the discipline, saw women as mis-formed or underdeveloped men. However, he did value one thing about women – the reproductive system.
Much like women were only socially valued for their capacity to bear children, the uterus defined being biologically female too. He thought all illnesses and diseases were related to the reproductive organs – the Hippocratic Corpus (written by physicians based on Hippocrates teachings) clearly shows this only too well in the ‘wandering womb’ theory.
The wandering womb theory explains how an unfulfilled uterus will travel to find fluid, causing symptoms throughout the body as it wrecks different organs as it passes around the abdominal cavity. Symptoms such as vertigo, loss of speech/sensibility, or hysteria could be explained by the direction the womb had moved. They believed the uterus could be enticed by pleasant scents and kept healthy by releasing moisture or being filled with it (menstruation meant women had too much blood, and their bodies were thought of as wetter and cooler than men’s).
But treatments were social too. Marriage by fourteen and regular intercourse with a husband (around 30), with multiple pregnancies prevented the uterus from causing ‘mischief if it was stifled by virginity,’ Elinor Cleghorn explained in her book Unwell Women. Philosophers would often use medicine to prescribe sex to young women.
Importance of Ancient Greek Medicine
It’s fair to say that medicine wasn’t ideal in ancient Greece– ideas surrounding the four-humour model, led to treatments such as bloodletting which often caused more harm than good, going against Hippocrates’ famous ethical contribution regarding non-maleficence in healthcare.
The idea of the uterus/womb being an animal within an animal and having desires independent from the women herself took power away from vulnerable women and gave it to male philosophers and academics who could take advantage of their social position. Women had to fulfil their social role to have children, for it was in her biology.
The prejudices Greek philosophers had when investigating women’s pain, menstruation, and emotion inhibited their understanding of the body and ability to heal. Now, despite medicine having evolved since 460BC, it’s essential to recognise our prejudices, so we can achieve our full potential in medicine.
