We’re back from our break with Witches, Midwives, & Nurses: A History of Women Healers
This text dives into the connections between the medical industrial complex and patriarchy, posing the questions of why and how medicine and healing became fields dominated by men.
The reading begins with the European witch trials, then moves on to men’s medical practice in universities, which women were barred from. It then touches on the banning of midwives in the US, which ultimately barred women from any aspect of medicine until the rise of nursing, which we learn had many of its own problems regarding class and gender.
The piece is a good, brief history, but does have some blind spots regarding its Eurocentrism and lack of intersectionality.
Stay tuned for more recordings in the following weeks.