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Public Privates: Performing Gynecology from Both Ends of the Speculum
  
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Public Privates: Performing Gynecology from Both Ends of the Speculum [Hardcover]

Terri Kapsalis (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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"Health educator, performer, and scholar Terri Kapsalis gives us a series of brilliantly performed readings of gynecology's complex private and public lives in medical texts, history books, clinics, popular film, and performance art. More than just cultural critique, Public Privates is a feminist guide to locating our own agency as active performers in the multilayered practices and discourses devoted to women's sexual and reproductive health." Lisa Cartwright, author of Screening the Body

Book Description

In "Public Privates", a book about looking and being looked at, about speculums, spectacles, and spectators, about display, illumination, and reflection, Terri Kapsalis makes visible the practices and representations of gynaecology. The quintessential examination of women, gynaecology is not simply the study of women's bodies, but also serves to define and constitute them. Any critical analysis of gynaecology is therefore, as Kapsalis affirms, an investigation of what it means to be female. In this respect she considers the public exposure of female 'privates' in the performance of the pelvic examination.From J. Marion Sims' surgical experiments on un-anesthetised slave women in the mid-nineteenth century, to the use of cadavers and prostitutes to teach medical students gynaecological techniques, Kapsalis focuses on the ways in which women and their bodies have been treated by the medical establishment. Removing gynaecology from its private cover within clinic walls and medical textbook pages, she decodes the gynaecological examination, seizing on its performative dimension.She considers traditional medical practices and the dynamics of 'proper' patient performance; non-traditional practices such as the cervical self-examination; and, incarnations of the pelvic examination outside the bounds of medicine, including its appearance in David Cronenberg's film "Dead Ringers" and Annie Sprinkle' performance piece "Public Cervix Announcement". Confounding the boundaries that separate medicine, art, and pornography, revealing the potent cultural attitudes and anxieties about women, female bodies, and female sexuality that permeate the practice of gynaecology, "Public Privates" concludes by locating a venue from which challenging, alternative performances may be staged. Provocative and daring, this book will be important to readers engaged in women's studies, cultural studies, and performance studies, and to those concerned with issues of women's health.
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First Sentence
In their 1971 article "Dramaturgical Desexualization: The Sociology of the Vaginal Examination," James M. Henslin and Mae A. Biggs considered the pelvic exam in the theatrical terms, drawing on the work of Erving Goffman, an early performance theorist. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2.0 out of 5 stars Wrong Emphasis, April 26 2004
This review is from: Public Privates: Performing Gynecology From Both Ends of the Speculum (Paperback)
Kapsalis took the right subject in the wrong direction. She missed an opportunity to attack gross negligence in the medical culture. Both men and women are victimized by a culture of unnecessary and invasive medical procedures.
There are pre-admission physicals, employment physicals, sports physicals, insurance physicals, immigration physicals, and on the job physicals but no proof that physicals save lives. Furthermore, some professions ie Nurse Practitioners and Certified Physician's Assistants almost subsist on doing physicals because older professions {DOs and MDs} protect their turf
Last but not least, she should have criticized Joan Emerson's research. Patients are protected by being covered up and treated objectively. How many patients want to be fully exposed with no chaperon?
Kapsalis also didn't mention Jack Olson's book "DOC: The Rape of the Town of Lovell" about convicted physician/rapist Dr. Story. Overall, Kapsalis didn't approach this subject from the best perspective
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4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone, but very interesting..., July 27 2000
This review is from: Public Privates: Performing Gynecology From Both Ends of the Speculum (Paperback)
As the manager of several websites dealing with the fascination that many people -- both men and women -- have with gynecology, I was very much looking forward to reading this book, and I was not disappointed. The insight that Ms. Kapsalis brings to the subject, using both her scholarly studies and her actual experience in the field, gives her a very informed perspective on the unique dynamics inherent in this medical speciality. Her committment to women's health and the free flow of information from doctor to patient is commendable and really comes through.

From the traditional world of gynecology to taboo-bending performance art, Ms. Kapsalis explores the attitudes and advances being made in the way we think about this intimate invasion of the female body. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to explore the psychological, sociological, psychosexual, and historical underpinnings of gynecology. Don't come here looking for stimulating pictures or cheap thrills -- this is a text-heavy serious book, but rewarding reading for those motivated and interested.

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4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting historical look at gynecology, May 22 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Public Privates: Performing Gynecology From Both Ends of the Speculum (Paperback)
Starting with vivid descriptions of gynecology's roots in American slavery, the focus of the woman's body is set up as a theatre for men's enjoyment. The above section is desciptive enough to make a woman's insides turn in horror, as the mistreatment and unhygenic display of black slave women's reproductive systems is described in detail.

Carrying this idea of gynecology as a theatre, Kapsalis introduces graphic photos of actual theatre performances of the use of the speculum. This shocking portrayal allows for the movement of gynecology and the acceptance of the woman's body that is paramount to the book's conclusion.

Overall, an intersting read. Not five stars, as it is a bit slow in sections. Over emphasis on the "speculum play"...

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