Editing Gynaecology (section)

===J. Marion Sims===
{{main|J. Marion Sims}}

{{See also|Mothers of Gynecology Movement}}
[[J. Marion Sims]] is widely regarded as the father of modern gynecology.<ref name="Semple1923">{{cite book|last=Semple|first=Henry Churchill|title=J. Marion Sims, the Father of Modern Gynecology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c5WomgEACAAJ|access-date=11 October 2013|date=1923|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611084013/https://books.google.com/books?id=c5WomgEACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Isolated precedents exist for some of his innovations; however, he was the first to have published medical contributions such as development of the [[Sims' position]] (1845), the [[Sims' vaginal speculum|Sims' speculum]] (1845), the Sims’ sigmoid catheter, and gynecological surgery. He was the first to develop surgical techniques for the repair of [[vesico-vaginal fistulas]] (1849), a consequence of protracted childbirth which at the time was without treatment. He founded the first women's hospital in the country in Alabama 1855 and subsequently the [[Woman's Hospital]] of New York in 1857. He was elected president of the [[American Medical Association]] in 1876. Sims died in 1883 and was the first American physician of whom a statue was erected in 1894.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James Marion Sims (1813-1883) {{!}} Embryo Project Encyclopedia |url=https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/james-marion-sims-1813-1883 |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=embryo.asu.edu}}</ref>

Sims’ legacy is widely controversial as he developed this new specialty experimenting on Black enslaved women, as recounted in his autobiography.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The story of my life. |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.storyofmylif00sims/?st=gallery |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Cooper Owens |first=Deirdre Benia |title=Medical bondage: race, gender, and the origins of American gynecology |date=2018 |publisher=The University of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-5475-0 |edition=Paperback |location=Athens}}</ref> In this era, [[anesthesia]] was unprecedented and a focus in research. Its use was novice and considered dangerous.  Sims developed various of his techniques and instruments by operating on slaves, many of whom were not given [[anesthesia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Russ |first1=Joanna |last2=Daly |first2=Mary |date=1979 |title=Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/3346672 |journal=Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=68 |doi=10.2307/3346672 |jstor=3346672 |issn=0160-9009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.5771/9780761850922 |title=Color Struck |date=2010 |publisher=Hamilton |doi=10.5771/9780761850922 |isbn=978-0-7618-5092-2 |editor-last=Adekunle |editor-first=Julius O. |editor-last2=Williams |editor-first2=Hettie V.}}</ref>  On one of the women, named [[Anarcha Westcott|Anarcha]], he performed 30 surgeries without anesthesia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wall |first=L. Lewis |date=2006-11-02 |title=Did J. Marion Sims Deliberately Addict His First Fistula Patients to Opium? |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/jrl045 |journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=336–356 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/jrl045 |pmid=17082217 |issn=1468-4373}}</ref>  In addition, during the [[Antebellum South|antebellum]] era, medical racism funded and founded science that supported the belief that Black people had higher pain tolerance, and white women proved unable to endure the pain.<ref name=":2" /> The lack of voluntary, informed consent and experimentation on Black enslaved women’s bodies during the antebellum era went ethically unquestioned in the medical community, and contributed to medical racism that perpetuated beliefs on pain tolerance, race, and gender that persist today.<ref name=":2" />

Throughout his career, he was invited by European Royalty to treat their female relatives of gynecological problems. His medical knowledge had been produced globally without acknowledgement of the methods delaying these techniques.<ref name=":2" /> When he left Alabama in 1853, a local newspaper called him "an honor to our state."<ref>{{cite news |date=22 Mar 1854 |title=Medical Journals |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103992475/j-marion-sims/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618201151/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103992475/j-marion-sims/ |archive-date=18 June 2022 |access-date=18 June 2022 |newspaper=Sumter County Whig |location=[[Livingston, Alabama]] |page=2 |via=[[newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Currently, Sims’ experimentation on Black enslaved women is widely discoursed and criticized in the [[Journal of Medical Ethics]] and academic scholars.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wall |first=L L |date=2006-05-26 |title=The medical ethics of Dr J Marion Sims: a fresh look at the historical record |url=https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.2005.012559 |journal=Journal of Medical Ethics |volume=32 |issue=6 |pages=346–350 |doi=10.1136/jme.2005.012559 |pmid=16731734 |pmc=2563360 |issn=0306-6800}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ojanuga |first=D |date=March 1993 |title=The medical ethics of the 'father of gynaecology', Dr J Marion Sims. |url=https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.19.1.28 |journal=Journal of Medical Ethics |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=28–31 |doi=10.1136/jme.19.1.28 |pmid=8459435 |pmc=1376165 |issn=0306-6800}}</ref>