The Mothers of Gynecology: Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy
During a week of gynecology content, our class was introduced to Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy. These three women are the Mothers of Gynecology. The history of gynecology is one that, while responsible for developing lifesaving surgeries, is painted with extreme injustice. I have since researched their stories, and in this abridged piece, hope to shed light on the dark origins of gynecology, while recognizing this only scratches the surface of the acts of violence committed against these women.
It should be noted that the only records that remain about these women come from J. Marion Sims (Prunty et al., 2021). Sims was a physician and slaveholder in the Southern United States of America who performed experimental operations on enslaved women between 1845 and 1849 (Prunty et al., 2021). Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy among these women who were forcefully operated on by Sims without anesthesia (Prunty et al., 2021; Cronin, 2020). They did not consent and did not have the autonomy to say no (Cronin, 2020). Over this period, these women underwent multiple operations in attempts to repair vesico-vaginal fistulas (Prunty et al., 2021). Lucy fell extremely ill after her initial operation due to inadequate urine drainage, which contaminated the fistula (Cronin, 2020). Anarcha endured 29 failed operations before one was successful (Cronin, 2020). These are just two examples of the atrocities Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy and around six to seven other undocumented women endured (Cronin, 2020).
Today, recognition of these women is growing. A movement led by Kameelah Philips and the Association of Women Surgeons has proposed renaming the Sims speculum to the Lucy speculum (Prunty et al., 2021). Additionally, in 2021, artists Michelle Browder, Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith, and Zoe Boston, directly challenged the historical narrative by reinterpreting a 1952 painting commissioned by Robert Thom, which depicts one of the three women kneeling before Sims and two other men (Prunty et al., 2021). In Browder, Wolfe-Goldsmith and Boston’s version, the power is inverted. Instead, it depicts Sims kneeling before the Mothers of Gynecology.
It is important to remember that Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy are not nebulous figures of the past. They were women with full lives, whose bodily autonomy was stripped from them in the name of scientific discovery. Their history still shapes the field we are entering today and must be recognized by all medical students to ensure history does not repeat itself. We cannot change what happened to these women, but we can choose to honour them by becoming practitioners who do right by patients trusting us with their care.
References
Cronin M. Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, and the women whose names were not recorded: The legacy of J Marion Sims. Anaesth Intensive Care. 2020 Nov;48(3_suppl):6-13. doi: 10.1177/0310057X20966606. Epub 2020 Nov 29.
Prunty M, Bukavina L, Hallman JC. Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey: The Mothers of Modern Gynecology. Urology. 2021 Nov;157:1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2021.06.048. Epub 2021 Aug 23.
