 His and hers: Male and female anatomy in anatomy texts for U.S. medical students, 1890-1989Susan C. Lawrence and Kae Bendixen Social Science & Medicine, 1992, vol. 35, issue 7, 925-934 Abstract: Much recent work on gender has emphasized how ideas of male and female differences underlie cultural assumptions about appropriate social relations, behavior, institutions and knowledge. This study focusses on the specific ways that anatomy texts for medical students in the United States have presented male and female anatomy between 1890 and 1989, using both numerical data and analysis of textual examples from 31 texts. Despite public debates about gender representation, anatomy texts have generally remained consistent in how 'the' human body has been depicted in this century. In illustrations, vocabulary and syntax, these texts primarily depict male anatomy as the norm or standard against which female structures are compared. Modern texts thus continue long-standing historical conventions in which male anatomy provides the basic model for 'the' human body. Keywords: medical; education; anatomy; gender; textbooks; United; States (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:35:y:1992:i:7:p:925-934 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier |
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