Chirurgiens, sages-femmes et la question de la honte au début de l'Allemagne moderne

"It Is More Respectable for Women to Deal with Such Things". Surgeons, Midwives, and the Question of Shame in Early Modern Germany

Talk by Sabine Schlegelmilch – University of Würzburg 

 

22 February 2022, 5.00-6.30 pm (CET)

In the first half of the 18th century, the concept of birth clinics emerged in Germany, where male obstetricians, so-called accoucheurs, were trained. The replacement of midwives from part of their original field of work is usually explained with the narrative of progressive medicalisation. However, as source texts from the late 17th-century show, this development was not as straightforward as it is often portrayed.


Between 1600 and 1800, approximately 200 midwifery books were published in Germany.

These were texts that were primarily designed to instruct practising midwives. However, only those intended for the midwifery schools that were attached to the birth clinics have received attention so far. These texts are, of course, influenced by the educational intentions of university medicine. Earlier copies from the 1670s-1730s, however, paint a different picture. They depict a widely unknown discussion about the role and tasks of midwives. This discussion, characterised by a positive image of midwives, was only possible in Germany in this way during the period of the early Enlightenment, when the “learned” woman was still an accepted image. As a result, and only for a short time, midwives even began to write books themselves for their professional colleagues.

The background to this development is an important aspect of cultural history that has also not been sufficiently elaborated so far. The midwives’ books also discuss the shame of both the women giving birth, who did not want to let male obstetricians touch their bodies, and the obstetricians, who felt uncomfortable with the exposed female bodies. The birthing room was considered a female-defined space where men had no business being. Some of the texts name this circumstance as typical for the German-speaking region.

Recent research has described the period of the Early Enlightenment in Germany as a phase of “opening” and “closing” and pointed out that the two terms should not be assigned chronologically as a matter of course (in the sense that, for example, opening is always associated with enlightenment).

This lecture brings together the factors mentioned so far to form a picture of the turn of the century (17th/18th), that shows to what extent the thesis of “opening” and “closing” also applies to the development of the medical profession.

The event is free to attend but registration is required. To register click here.
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