• Home
  • Health & Wellness
  • Disclaimer
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • DMCA Notice
  • Home
  • Health & Wellness
  • Disclaimer
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • DMCA Notice
24/7 Health News
No Result
View All Result
Home Article

Speculum: the creepy history of this ancient gynaecological device and why it’s still feared today

January 11, 2023
in Article
Speculum: the creepy history of this ancient gynaecological device and why it’s still feared today
Vaginal and anal speculum were used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Shutterstock/Praisaeng

Women’s health is in crisis. In many places, gynaecology waiting lists are rising or are even at record lengths.

Even when a woman sees a specialist, there are terrifying accounts of what human rights body the Council of Europe defines as “gynaecological violence”. That includes not just performing diagnostic procedures without adequate pain control, but also a lack of compassion for the patient. Such reports are shocking, but perhaps not surprising when you consider how little some aspects of women’s medicine have changed in hundreds of years – and the unpleasant history they carry.

Once a woman gets to her appointment with the specialist, a speculum is the usual way of seeing what’s happening inside the body. These devices go back to ancient Rome. They comprise two or three “bills” which need to be opened up inside the body to give the best view.

The speculum is traditionally metal, meaning that it’s cold unless pre-warmed. A new design is now being worked on by a group of female designers and engineers. The Yona has a silicone surface and a much less threatening appearance. This is an important development in women’s healthcare given that the vaginal speculum has remained largely unchanged since the nineteenth century.

Vaginal speculum diagram.
How a vaginal speculm works.
wikicommons/Sciencia58, CC BY-SA

But more than the metallic noises and coldness, it is the invasiveness of the speculum that is at the centre of its fairly horrific history. Indeed, back in 19th-century Britain, when three laws tried to stop sexually-transmitted diseases (because these were thought to threaten the health of the nation’s army and navy), any woman suspected of being a sex worker could be sent for a forcible speculum examination.

The campaigner Josephine Butler called such examinations “forcible rape”. Even a hint of disease meant that the woman would be kept in what was known as a “lock hospital” – an establishment that specialised in treating sexually transmitted diseases – until the symptoms had gone.

The virginity myth

In the past, when virginity was still firmly linked to the idea of a membrane called the hymen, the speculum was feared because it was thought to break the hymen and end virginity. This would damage a woman’s “purity” and make her unmarriable.

Although at least in western societies these ideas are no longer common, assumptions about which size of speculum (yes, they come in different sizes) to use still refer to sexual activity.

Sarah Walser, a resident physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the US, was shocked to discover when she was doing her clinical training that the names “virginal speculum” and “extra virgin speculum” were used for the smaller sizes. As Walser argues, these labels assume that “the only sex that matters is heteronormative penile-vaginal penetration”.

Medical instruments.
14th, 15th and 16th-century specula.
wikicommons/Wellcome Trust, CC BY-SA

Fear of breaking the hymen still holds back people with vaginas from important routine gynaecological examinations, such as the Pap smear to detect abnormal cells in the cervix. Health advice sites try to allay such fears. But hymens, even where they exist (some women are born with little hymeneal tissue or without the tissue at all), vary enormously in their flexibility.

Indeed a 19-year-old girl who was in hospital in the 1880s for not having any periods was found to have a hymen that was so flexible that “a medium-sized (one inch) Fergusson speculum has been repeatedly introduced, for purposes of exploration, without in the slightest degree affecting its integrity”.

This is a disturbing story because the use of the word “repeatedly” suggests that this young woman may have been examined over and over again to demonstrate the point. Yet even at this time, it was known that the speculum can cause pain by pinching the walls of the vagina (and this is still the case today).

Invasive and painful

Back in the fifth century, in his book The City of God, the influential theologian St Augustine argued that purity was about the soul, not the body. Back then, midwives seem to have been used to check whether the hymen was there. Augustine commented:

“A midwife, suppose, has (whether maliciously or accidentally, or through unskilfulness) destroyed the virginity of some girl while endeavouring to ascertain it: I suppose no one is so foolish as to believe that, by this destruction of the integrity of one organ, the virgin has lost anything even of her bodily sanctity.”

Augustine draws our attention here to the hymeneal paradox: the search for it can be precisely what destroys it.

Even those historical writers, such as Thomas Bartholin and his father Caspar Bartholin, who insisted the hymen was real and was evidence of virginity, realised how easy they were to lose. In their 1668 text Bartholinus Anatomy, they admitted that a virgin could break it with her fingers or with something else, and suggested that there were ways of having vaginal intercourse that would keep it intact.

Women’s bodies have always carried far more meaning than their basic anatomy. They are used to talk about morality and purity. And even though for most women seeing a specialist today the hymen is no longer relevant, the invasive speculum with its potential for pain remains as much a threat to our health as a means to diagnose our disease.

The Conversation

Helen King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

ShareTweetSharePin
Next Post
Bivalent COVID vaccines have now been in use for a few months – here’s how they’re stacking up against omicron

Bivalent COVID vaccines have now been in use for a few months – here's how they're stacking up against omicron

Most Read

What causes stuttering? A speech pathology researcher explains the science and the misconceptions around this speech disorder

What causes stuttering? A speech pathology researcher explains the science and the misconceptions around this speech disorder

December 15, 2022
morning back pain

Morning Again Ache Trigger Is Not the Mattress

October 11, 2021

4 steps to building a healthier relationship with your phone

January 28, 2025

Why Circadian Rhythms Matter for Your Health

July 30, 2024
lower back pain relief exercises

5 decrease again ache aid workouts

October 11, 2021
Nasal vaccines promise to stop the COVID-19 virus before it gets to the lungs – an immunologist explains how they work

Nasal vaccines promise to stop the COVID-19 virus before it gets to the lungs – an immunologist explains how they work

December 14, 2022
bleeding in gum

When The Bleeding in gum Is Severe ?

October 11, 2021
Good Night Sleep

6 Causes of Good Evening Sleep

October 11, 2021
3 years after legalization, we have shockingly little information about how it changed cannabis use and health harms

3 years after legalization, we have shockingly little information about how it changed cannabis use and health harms

October 15, 2021
Kick up your heels – ballroom dancing offers benefits to the aging brain and could help stave off dementia

Kick up your heels – ballroom dancing offers benefits to the aging brain and could help stave off dementia

January 3, 2023
Biden is getting prostate cancer treatment, but that’s not the best choice for all men − a cancer researcher describes how she helped her father decide

Biden is getting prostate cancer treatment, but that’s not the best choice for all men − a cancer researcher describes how she helped her father decide

May 20, 2025
Ten small changes you can make today to prevent weight gain

Ten small changes you can make today to prevent weight gain

October 12, 2021

COVID vaccines: how one can pace up rollout in poorer international locations

October 5, 2021

Maximize Your Performance – Sync with Your Circadian Rhythms

August 9, 2024
Five ways to avoid pain and injury when starting a new exercise regime

Five ways to avoid pain and injury when starting a new exercise regime

December 30, 2022

This Simple Hygiene Habit Could Cut Your Risk of Stroke, New Research Reveals

February 1, 2025

Multiple sclerosis: the link with earlier infection just got stronger – new study

October 12, 2021
Support and collaboration with health-care providers can help people make health decisions

Support and collaboration with health-care providers can help people make health decisions

December 16, 2021
Greece to make COVID vaccines mandatory for over-60s, but do vaccine mandates work?

Greece to make COVID vaccines mandatory for over-60s, but do vaccine mandates work?

December 1, 2021
woman covered with white blanket

Exploring the Impact of Sleep Patterns on Mental Health

August 4, 2024
Nurses’ attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination for their children are highly influenced by partisanship, a new study finds

Nurses’ attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination for their children are highly influenced by partisanship, a new study finds

December 2, 2022
News of war can impact your mental health — here’s how to cope

Binge-eating disorder is more common than many realise, yet it’s rarely discussed – here’s what you need to know

December 2, 2022
FDA limits access to COVID-19 vaccine to older adults and other high-risk groups – a public health expert explains the new rules

FDA limits access to COVID-19 vaccine to older adults and other high-risk groups – a public health expert explains the new rules

May 21, 2025
As viral infections skyrocket, masks are still a tried-and-true way to help keep yourself and others safe

As viral infections skyrocket, masks are still a tried-and-true way to help keep yourself and others safe

December 14, 2022
GPs don’t give useful weight-loss advice – new study

GPs don’t give useful weight-loss advice – new study

December 16, 2022
Four ways to avoid gaining weight over the festive period – but also why you shouldn’t fret about it too much

Four ways to avoid gaining weight over the festive period – but also why you shouldn’t fret about it too much

December 22, 2022
Nutrition advice is rife with misinformation − a medical education specialist explains how to tell valid health information from pseudoscience

Nutrition advice is rife with misinformation − a medical education specialist explains how to tell valid health information from pseudoscience

January 28, 2025
How hot is too hot for the human body? Our lab found heat + humidity gets dangerous faster than many people realize

How hot is too hot for the human body? Our lab found heat + humidity gets dangerous faster than many people realize

July 6, 2022
How regulatory agencies, not the courts, are imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates

How regulatory agencies, not the courts, are imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates

October 24, 2021
The promise of repairing bones and tendons with human-made materials

The promise of repairing bones and tendons with human-made materials

January 4, 2022
  • Home
  • Health & Wellness
  • Disclaimer

© 2020 DAILY HEALTH NEWS

  • Home
  • Health & Wellness
  • Disclaimer
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • DMCA Notice

© 2020 DAILY HEALTH NEWS