The first female physician, and the thousand-year campaign against her

[ismnotwasm]

In the 11th century, Salerno was the place to be if you wanted to be a physician. It had what some claim is the world's first real medical school. It had hospitals and doctors that people would travel huge distances to visit. And it had each of those because of a solid scholarly tradition. Many physicians from Salerno wrote medical treatises, but the most famous is Trotula.

Trotula wrote medical books meant to instruct male doctors regarding the medical care of women. Since the vast majority of formally educated doctors were men, and religious and legal taboos often prevented them from practicing on women, few knew anything about gynecological problems. Trotula sought to fix that. She wrote two major books. One covered gynecological and obstetric problems. It included, controversially, the idea that sometimes men were the biological cause of conception problems, instead of just women. The other was more of an advice book for women, and dealt with cosmetic issues, from ways to treat puffy eyes to ways to soothing skin diseases. The two books represented a massive store of knowledge that male physicians wouldn't have had access to if Trotula hadn't studied to be a doctor, and picked up her pen.

http://io9.com/the-first-female-physician-and-the-thousand-year-campa-994184868

[Arcanetrance]

1. I did not know this. It's cool to learn something new thank you for sharing this

[Warpy]

2. My guess is that the family physician who trained her

was most likely her father. Educated men where known to pass on learning to sons and daughters. The daughters were usually denied an opportunity to use it. Another example of this was Thomas More, who wasn't afraid to state that women needed to be educated along with men and practiced exactly that in his own home.

I would say of course she existed, probably gaining most of her gynecological and obstetrical knowledge from the midwives in town. Men were utterly ignorant of such things and preferred to stay that way since women were icky and were only supposed to be used when another son was desired.

No man could have written this book, pseudonym or not. The midwives would never have trusted him.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Recommended. (nt)

[sheshe2]

4. Rec and kick it!

Excellent!

Thanks ismnotwasm.

[BlueJazz]

5. I wonder how much information has not been discovered because for many years...

...half of the population was denied the search for knowledge.

[progressoid]

6. THIS is another reason I love DU.

Thanks for this article!

[intaglio]

7. This needs to be told more frequently

but ...

Salerno may have been the best in Europe but the various "Bimaristan" of the Islamic world were probably better - and they were secular.

[ismnotwasm]

8. I had to look that up

Very interesting point; I will try to find something to post on the women practioners, thank you