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Secrets of Women: Gender, Generation, and the Origins of Human Dissection (Mit Press) Paperback – Illustrated, April 23, 2010

by Katharine Park (Author)
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
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Toward the end of the Middle Ages, medical writers and philosophers began to devote increasing attention to what they called “women’s secrets,” by which they meant female sexuality and generation. At the same time, Italian physicians and surgeons began to open human bodies in order to study their functions and the illnesses that afflicted them, culminating in the great illustrated anatomical treatise of Andreas Vesalius, in 1543.

Katharine Park traces these two closely related developments through a series of case studies of women whose bodies were dissected after their deaths: an abbess, a lactating virgin, several patrician wives and mothers, and an executed criminal. Drawing on texts and images, she explores the history of women’s bodies in Italy between the late thirteenth and the mid-sixteenth centuries in the context of family identity, religious observance, and women’s health care.

Secrets of Women explodes the myth that medieval religious prohibitions hindered the practice of human dissection in medieval and Renaissance Italy, arguing that female bodies, real and imagined, played a central role in the history of anatomy during that time. The opened corpses of holy women revealed sacred objects, while the opened corpses of wives and mothers yielded crucial information about where babies came from and about the forces that shaped their vulnerable flesh.

In the process, what male writers knew as the “secrets of women” came to symbolize the most difficult challenges posed by human bodies ― challenges that dissection promised to overcome. Thus Park demonstrates the centrality of gender to the development of early modern anatomy through a study of women’s bodies and men’s attempts to know them and, through them, to know their own.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    424 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Zone Books
  4. Publication date
    April 23, 2010
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1890951684
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1890951689
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Winner the Welch Medal, American Association for the History of Medicine"

"Winner of the Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize, History of Science Society"

"Park’s meticulously documented book is medical historiography at its best … . She has shed light on a notion ― ‘the secrets of women’ ― that should have long ago been recognized as deserving far more attention than has been paid to it." ― The New Republic

"Park’s book will undoubtedly prove to be an important contribution to the history of anatomy. For the first time, it extensively discusses the history of anatomy from the viewpoint of the corpse and, because of its particular focus on women’s bodies, it will radically change the way we think about the (male) history of the anatomized body." ― Nature

"This is a fascinating and astute discussion with an exciting thesis, taking the subject of dissection out of the medical school and situating it origins in practices of everyday life." ― Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Katharine Park's book Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750 (Zone Books, 1998), coauthored with Lorraine Daston, won the Pfizer Prize for the best book in the history of science. She is Zemurray Stone Radcliffe Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Zone Books; 0 edition (April 23, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 424 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1890951684
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1890951689
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

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Katharine Park

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4.9 out of 5 stars
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Devonte
5.0 out of 5 stars 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2022
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Julianne3205
5.0 out of 5 stars Important book about the beginnings of dissection
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2019
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Katharine Park has spent many years of her life working on the 'opening' of women's bodies, especially those of potential saints. In this book, she expands her emphasis to show how that led authorities and medical professionals alike to begin practicing dissections on a regular basis. She then delves into the portrayal of women's insides by men such as Vesalius, and their understanding of the uterus. It's a fascinating look at changing medical interests, and counters the notion that only female practitioners were allowed to help with gynecological and obstetrical issues in the Renaissance.
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B. Stark
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended by my advisor
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2016
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Using this as part of my research for my thesis. Recommended by my advisor. This is scholarly, indeed, when the chapters end at 259 but the footnotes, resources, and other documentation make this book over 400 pages!
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Sara
5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT!!
Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2013
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I love this book! The shipping was VERY fast and the book is in excellent condition! It is REALLY like new!! It aslo was VERY cheap and it was hardcover! A very GREAT BUY!!!
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D L Keleher, MD
5.0 out of 5 stars Early knowledge of human reproductive anatomy - 12th-13th centuries
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2020
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Most detailed study of early knowledge of the anatomy of pregnancy I've ever encountered! Professor Park's research is profound. I learned numerous corrections to what I had learned previously. Not to be missed!
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