Tag: women in medicine
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Episode 24. The “Classical” Woman: Ancient Theories of Female Anatomy
In a time when most anatomy theories were based on animals, not humans, it’s not surprising that ancient physicians may have gotten a fact or two wrong. But it is truly impressive how a single theory can incorrectly span the entire female anatomy. Gotta respect the hustle I guess. In this episode we are talking…
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Episode 23. Too Tough & Not Enough: Trans Women in Sports
The issue of trans women in sports is absolutely not a new one, but has recently been in the headlines of many news stories over the last couple of years. This week, we dive into the history of trans girls in sports, looking at the background of gender divisions in sports, how gender binaries have…
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Episode 22. The Rest Cure: Prescribed Torture?
When you go to the doctor with a psychiatric concern, you would expect them to hear you out and find the treatment regimen that is right for you. But in 1800s Victorian America, this wasn’t exactly the case. Neurologist Dr. Mitchell created the “Rest Cure” for his patients that required women to lay completely still…
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Episode 21. Dr. Margaret Chung: Certified Boss Mom
What’s the ideal number of kids you would have, if any? Two? Ten? Well how about adopting thousands of grown men as your “sons”. That’s essentially what Dr. Margaret Chung did and it is one of the many reasons we are sharing her story in this episode. Dr. Chung was the first Asian-American female physician…
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Episode 20. The Hands of a Woman: Surgery Spotlight
In today’s medical schools, half of the students are female. In surgical residencies, one-fourth of the residents are female. Of those female surgical residents, one-fourth of them will drop out from burnout. Women pursuing surgery today are faced with numerous challenges and obstacles, but yet they persist. And it was no different for the millennia…
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Episode 19. On the Rag: A Deep Dive into Menstruation
“On the rag,” “lady business,” “the red wedding.” These are just a few names we call that time of the month when the uterus sheds its lining and starts the cycle anew. Menstruation has long been a topic of mystery, intrigue, confusion, and just generally associated with a negative connotation. We discuss ideas of menstruation…
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Episode 18. Underground Abortion Networks: Filling in the Gaps, Medicine’s Failure
When a medical system can’t provide needed care for patients who are continuously left out or ignored, what happens? What does a community do when they are aching for help? Well in the case of access to safe abortions, underground abortion networks are created. In this episode, we will be talking about the emergence of…
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Episode 17. A Girl’s Guide to Meds: Women’s Roles in Modern Drug Development
The number of times we’ve turned to a medication to relieve our pain or cure our sickness is uncountable. We’ve been searching for ways to restore our health for ages, but today, modern drug development involves jumping through many hoops before a drug can come out the other end and be made available for public…
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Episode 16. C-Sections: One (un)successful history
In a time with no understanding of the womb, female anatomy, or germs, a complicated childbirth was the last thing you wanted. The options to save yourself or save your baby were slim, and there was rarely an option to save you both. The development of the C-section changed that, well kinda. As medicine evolved…
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Episode 15. Doctoring Women: The Healers and Resistors in Plantation Sickcare
As diseases like typhoid, diphtheria and tuberculosis ran rampant through Antebellum America, it was the enslaved Black women that carried out most of the sickcare on plantations in the South. This week, we dive into plantation sickcare and the women that made it possible. From the last rung of the social totem pole in which…
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