Much of gynaecology was built on surgical experiments conducted on enslaved African women. These procedures were done by Doctor James Marion Sims, who has been called the "father of modern gynaecology". His legacy lives on today with the Sims position, the speculum and the surgical technique to treat vaginal fistula. So how to reconcile that history with what happened to those young women, with the advances in gynaecology?

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Research links:

"Father of Modern Gynaecology" J. Marion Sims: https://www.history.com/articles/the-father-of-modern-gynecology-performed-shocking-experiments-on-slaves

https://www.npr.org/2016/02/16/466942135/remembering-anarcha-lucy-and-betsey-the-mothers-of-modern-gynecology

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/cancer-detectives-brief-history-speculum/

https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/02/17/historian-uncovers-gynecologys-brutal-roots-in-slavery/#:~:text=James%20Marion%20Sims%2C%20who%20was,same%20capacity%20as%20white%20men

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/03/how-lucy-betsey-and-anarcha-became-foremothers-of-gynecology/

Operating on poor Irish women: https://ugapress.manifoldapp.org/read/medical-bondage/section/403f560a-7f2d-4def-8bdf-a5767588b78b

https://www.healthinnowest.net/news/join-the-movement-to-rename-the-sims-speculum/

First record of use of anesthesia: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26828088/#:~:text=Abstract,labor%20and%20recovery%20from%20surgery.

The pain these women suffered: https://drjengunter.com/2017/09/08/dr-sims-built-a-lab-and-experimented-on-enslaved-women-take-down-his-statues

Documentary on Anarcha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjLL-fEj0fw

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11682838/ https://www.ogmagazine.org.au/23/4-23/lucys-legacy-why-sims-speculum-needs-a-different-name

https://www.npr.org/2018/04/22/604789513/controversial-statue-of-19th-century-gynecologist-removed-from-central-park

https://archives.icahn.mssm.edu/disappearing-hospitals-where-did-they-go-womans-hospital