Claire Brock. British Women Surgeons and Their Patients, 1860–1918

Feminist historians writing about the history of women and surgery have almost universally represented surgeons as powerful men who experimented on, exploited, and misused women’s passive bodies, often without their consent. The histories of the gynecological surgeons J. Marion Sims (whose statue was recently removed from New York City’s Central Park) and Isaac Baker Brown of London are perhaps two of the most egregious. Claire Brock takes us far from these stories with her fascinating British Women Surgeons and Their Patients, 1860–1918. Brock’s book not only alerts us to the fact that there were prominent, practicing, successful women surgeons at this important time in the history of surgery, but also demonstrates through wide-ranging sources, including rich caches of case notes, the relationships among these surgeons and their patients, the agency of patients in their medical experiences, the intricacies of female surgeons’ operations, and the impact of the First World War on women surgeons’ practices

Agency (philosophy · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art history · First world war · General surgery · Sociology · Statue · World War II · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Medical History and Innovations · Medicine · Surgery