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Stories

  • Article

Why are women more willing donors than men?

Why is there a gender imbalance when it comes to the donation of organs, blood and tissue, and what can be done about it?

  • Article

The search for a cure for endometriosis

Discover how a white American doctor’s experimental operations on black female slaves laid the foundations for modern gynaecological surgery.

  • Article

Rediscovering Margaret Louden, a forgotten NHS hero

Bored during lockdown, David Jesudason started bin diving at night. Then a chance discovery set him on a new path: to tell the story of a forgotten female surgeon.

  • Article

The pain that punished feminists

In a society that viewed getting the vote, and pursuing an education and career, as unnatural goals for women, the pain of endometriosis was viewed as nature’s retribution.

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Images

  • Top, three bandaged heads; centre, a naked surgeon sets the arm of a naked patient both flanked by bandaged women; bottom, bandaged bodies and limbs. Engraving.
  • Top, three bandaged heads; centre, a naked surgeon sets the arm of a naked patient both flanked by bandaged women; bottom, bandaged bodies and limbs. Engraving.
  • Top, three bandaged heads; centre, a naked surgeon sets the arm of a naked patient both flanked by bandaged women; bottom, bandaged bodies and limbs. Engraving.
  • Top, three bandaged heads; centre, a naked surgeon sets the arm of a naked patient both flanked by bandaged women; bottom, bandaged bodies and limbs. Engraving.
  • A gynaecological operation. Colour lithograph by Virginia Powell, ca. 1995.
  • An operation for appendicitis at the Military Hospital, Endell Street, London. Chalk drawing by Francis Dodd, 1920.
  • The workplace of a female healer (midwife and surgeon), with signboard, from outside. Reproduction of wood engraving after H. Daumier, 1841.
  • A surgeon preparing to let blood from the foot of a girl, in the presence of five other figures. Oil painting after Richard Brakenburg.
  • A woman giving birth aided by a surgeon who fumbles beneath a sheet to save the lady from embarassment. Wood engraving after a woodcut, 1711.
  • A surgeon letting blood from a woman's arm, and a physician examining a urine-flask. Oil painting by a Flemish painter, 18th (?) century.
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Catalogue

All works (416)