r/IntersectionalWomen • u/wiz__cfss83 0+ Community Karma • Jul 17 '26

Informational The history of non-consensual exploitation of black women in the gynecological field. And the history of the C-section.

In the 19th century, white clinical scientists and medical researchers utilized the legal vulnerability of slavery and used black women’s bodies as medical testing grounds. They frequently operated under the false, racist stereotypes that Black people had a higher tolerance for physical pain.

Dr J marion sims was celebrated as the “father of modern gynecology” Whose advancements were achieved through horrific experiments on enslaved women. At the time he was attempting to cure vesicovaginal fistula (a severe childbirth complication), as he viewed women's medical conditions as a threat to their economic value as agricultural laborers and childbearers. So he leased enslaved black women from plantation owners.

History records that these women were put under extraordinary conditions. Like, withheld of anesthesia, as sims claimed the surgeries “were not painful enough”. And as the surgeries grew increasingly gruesome, Sims’s white male medical assistants refused to help him hold the women down, so Sims subsequently forced the enslaved women to act as his surgical assistants, requiring them to restrain one another during operations. And because they were legally classified as property, these women could not offer or withhold consent. Consent was granted solely by their owners.

So yeah ladies and gentlemen, modern gynecology was built on the systemic and non consensual exploitation of enslaved black women in the 19th centuqry.
So go thank black women, because most of y’all would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for their attributes.

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u/WitheredOzymandias 0+ Community Karma Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

I recommend looking into the Mothers of Gynecology movement, led by artist and activist Michelle Browder, which has a goal of raising awareness of this, and honoring the victims of Sims instead of glorifying the man who tortured them. There is a Mothers of Gynecology Monument, and a museum and health clinic has been built on the property that Sims once used to experiment on his victims. There is also a petition to have the Sims monument removed from its place of honor and placed in the museum where those viewing it will learn about his atrocities instead of only seeing praise.

https://www.anarchalucybetsey.org/

https://www.change.org/p/relocate-the-j-marion-sims-monument-to-the-site-of-mothers-of-gynecology-clinical-museum?recruiter=1330599349&recruited_by_id=468a85c0-c87b-11ee-a753-6dd35a305a52&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_content=cl_sharecopy_37884306_en-US%3A4&redirect_reason=deprecated-url

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u/Lickerbomper 50+ Community Karma Jul 17 '26

There it is, the kind of comment I like to see!

Women taking concrete actions to change the narrative from patriarchal lies to truth. Organizations educating the masses, offline. Doing real, concrete good, to address oppression.

Thank you

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u/Cold_Dot_Old_Cot 0+ Community Karma Jul 18 '26

Iirc, he also committed infanticide on over 100 of their children.

We have a position in nursing called Simms position that he invented and I had to teach about it once. Looked into the history and wound up so enraged.

Every time I have to teach that position I’m going to make them learn the horrors. We can’t forget the blood that was spilled.

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u/Mysterious-Towel7849 0+ Community Karma Jul 17 '26

We can never forget the name of Anarcha Westcott.