S3 Ep170: The Dark History of the Pelvic Exam

The vagina is a dark and mysterious place. It is the passage by which most of us enter the world. As an adult, it is the place where our sexuality is housed, hopefully, associated with pleasure, but it can also be a place associated with pain, and sometimes trauma. 
It is impossible to see the vagina without a speculum since the vagina is completely internal. And it was the invention of the speculum that allowed physicians to help women suffering from gynecologic conditions.  But, there is a dark history to the origins of the speculum exam, and even in recent times there are those that have taken advantage of this very vulnerable moment to harm, not help women.  

In this episode, I have a conversation with Dr. Wendy Kline, a Professor at Perdue University who is internationally recognized for her scholarship in the history of medicine, the history of women’s health, and the history of childbirth.  She is the author of many books, including her most recent book: Exposed: The Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam. 

• 19th century- The invention of the speculum and how it changed gynecology
• The 1960s- the age of medical paternalism 
• 2010 when the American College of Physicians said pelvic exams were no longer necessary
• Today- how predators and abusers have taken advantage of women during gynecologic exams

Exposed: The Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam 

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Wendy Kline Ph.D., Dema G. Seelye Chair in the History of Medicine at Purdue University, is internationally recognized for her scholarship in the history of medicine, history of women's health and the history of childbirth. She is the author of four major books: Exposed: The Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam (Polity, June 2024); Coming Home: How Midwives Changed Birth (Oxford University Press, 2019);  Bodies of Knowledge: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Women’s Health in the Second Wave (U. of Chicago Press 2010); and Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom (U. of California Press, 2001).

Lauren Streicher, MD is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. She is the Medical Director of Community Education and Outreach for Midi Health.

Dr. Streicher is the medical correspondent for Chicago’s top-rated news program, the WGN Morning News, and has been seen on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, NPR, Dr. Radio, Nightline, Fox and Friends, The Steve Harvey Show, CBS This Morning, ABC News Now, NBCNightlyNews,20/20, and World News Tonight. She is an expert source for many magazines and serves on the medical advisory board of The Kinsey Institute, Self Magazine, and Prevention Magazine. She writes a regular column for The Ethel by AARP and Prevention Magazine. 

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