Artifact

The artifact that I’m presenting from our culture is the speculum. The speculum is a tool used in gynecology for the common procedure, Pap smear. This procedure includes inserting the speculum into the vagina as to be able to gain a more “open” perspective. The common speculum is an artifact of our medical culture and we can deduce quite a bit about how the view of women’s health has changed. The fact that we even have such an instrument shows that we’ve grown in our concern for women’s health. However if we take a look at this speculum versus Sims’ tool:

We can see that there has been some change. There is a clear difference in how we treat and think about women. Our culture has become more updated with a more comfortable way to deal with women’s health

Discussion Question

-Speaking from the artifact its self, what are the clear differences between the beginning of gynecology to now?

-Do you believe Sims’ was malicious or just trying to help or hurt? Was he after advances in medicine or money and a name for himself?

-How do you think Sims’ would have been seen if he had tested his surgery on white women rather than black slaves during that time?

-Consider the many medical experiments that have been done to advance to the point that we are at, would these be plausible now considering our different view for all of humanity?

Joan Welch