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How the Clinic Made Gender: The Medical History of a Transformative Idea
An eye-opening exploration of the medical origins of gender in modern US history.
Today, a world without “gender” is hard to imagine. Gender is at the center of contentious political and social debates, shapes policy decisions, and informs our everyday lives. Its formulation, however, is lesser Gender was first used in clinical practice. This book tells the story of the invention of gender in American medicine, detailing how it was shaped by mid-twentieth-century American notions of culture, personality, and social engineering.
Sandra Eder shows how the concept of gender transformed from a pragmatic tool in the sex assignment of children with intersex traits in the 1950s to an essential category in clinics for transgender individuals in the 1960s. Following gender outside the clinic, she reconstructs the variable ways feminists integrated gender into their theories and practices in the 1970s. The process by which ideas about gender became medicalized, enforced, and popularized was messy, and the route by which gender came to be understood and applied through the treatment of patients with intersex traits was fraught and contested. In historicizing the emergence of the sex/gender binary, Eder reveals the role of medical practice in developing a transformative idea and the interdependence between practice and wider social norms that inform the attitudes of physicians and researchers. She shows that ideas like gender can take on a life of their own and may be used to question the normative perceptions they were based on. Illuminating and deeply researched, the book closes a notable gap in the history of gender and will inspire current debates on the relationship between social norms and medical practice.
Today, a world without “gender” is hard to imagine. Gender is at the center of contentious political and social debates, shapes policy decisions, and informs our everyday lives. Its formulation, however, is lesser Gender was first used in clinical practice. This book tells the story of the invention of gender in American medicine, detailing how it was shaped by mid-twentieth-century American notions of culture, personality, and social engineering.
Sandra Eder shows how the concept of gender transformed from a pragmatic tool in the sex assignment of children with intersex traits in the 1950s to an essential category in clinics for transgender individuals in the 1960s. Following gender outside the clinic, she reconstructs the variable ways feminists integrated gender into their theories and practices in the 1970s. The process by which ideas about gender became medicalized, enforced, and popularized was messy, and the route by which gender came to be understood and applied through the treatment of patients with intersex traits was fraught and contested. In historicizing the emergence of the sex/gender binary, Eder reveals the role of medical practice in developing a transformative idea and the interdependence between practice and wider social norms that inform the attitudes of physicians and researchers. She shows that ideas like gender can take on a life of their own and may be used to question the normative perceptions they were based on. Illuminating and deeply researched, the book closes a notable gap in the history of gender and will inspire current debates on the relationship between social norms and medical practice.
328 pages, Hardcover
Published June 7, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 3, 2023
(read for class) though the middle portions dragged and were pretty repetitive, this book is full of interesting stories and really honoring portrayals of children leading impossibly difficult lives.
full review drops monday in english 601: intro to graduate studies.
full review drops monday in english 601: intro to graduate studies.
December 22, 2022
Excellent book on doctor and clinic involvement in making gender. It, unfortunately only muddied the “water” for me. I am not any closer to knowing what happened to me that I don’t already know, in at least two surgeries before I was six. It was affirmed that the pills I took before I was 10 were for a salt deficiency, as my parents said, but they never said anything else. What this all means without having patient records? Dunno, really. Going to keep digging, though. Anyone have any bright ideas, speak up. I was born Boston.
Good information on John Money and the Hampton’s and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Good information on John Money and the Hampton’s and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
April 10, 2024
Ricerca genealogia sul gender condotta attraverso lo studio della storia della medicina contemporanea.
January 20, 2023
extremely dense and extremely important! this book dives into the history of gender as an american medical construct, first developed for the treatment of intersex patients on hospitals. it takes you through the history of the johns hopkins endocrine clinic and their practices over time, and it reinforces the truth that medicine and science are always inseparable from the social and political norms of their respective time periods. (hint: doctors loved gender during the cold war in part because it categorized american citizens into neat family units, which they deemed morally righteous, because there is perceived safety in sameness.) i recommend breaking this down into bite sized pieces over time :)
March 7, 2023
In a time of history where gender is a flashpoint in the culture wars, this is an important book.
I was surprised to find that developments around the idea of sex/gender are not a recent invention but go back almost 100 years.
This is a medical history book where the author picks up the story from the 1930's/40's covering the following:
1. Practices of sex assignment before and at the brink of the formulation of the concept of gender at Hopkins’s Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic in the 1940's.
2. The psychologization of American society and the popular acceptance of the paradigm of adjustment and maladjustment as part of the medical evaluation of sex in the 1950's.
3. The social sciences' ideas about the culture and environment shaping human behavior and personality with a particular focus on John Money.
4. The concept of a learned gender role formulated at Lawson Wilkins’s clinic between 1951 and 1956.
5. How “gender role” was folded into medical practices pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, and management of CAH (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia).
6. How the new concept of gender traveled beyond the boundaries of the Hopkins clinic, how it was circulated in the United States and internationally, and how it was adapted to different locales and disciplines.
7. How the notion of psychological sex and the idea of a learned gender role were reformulated as gender identity in the field of psychology.
While providing fascinating individual accounts extracted from medical records, the author doesn't take a side in the sex/gender debate. She doesn't delve into the philosophy of gender nor does she offer a conclusion.
My own conclusion from reading the book is that gender is result of both nature and nurture and is therefore complex whereby binary positions do no justice to the established science.
I was surprised to find that developments around the idea of sex/gender are not a recent invention but go back almost 100 years.
This is a medical history book where the author picks up the story from the 1930's/40's covering the following:
1. Practices of sex assignment before and at the brink of the formulation of the concept of gender at Hopkins’s Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic in the 1940's.
2. The psychologization of American society and the popular acceptance of the paradigm of adjustment and maladjustment as part of the medical evaluation of sex in the 1950's.
3. The social sciences' ideas about the culture and environment shaping human behavior and personality with a particular focus on John Money.
4. The concept of a learned gender role formulated at Lawson Wilkins’s clinic between 1951 and 1956.
5. How “gender role” was folded into medical practices pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, and management of CAH (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia).
6. How the new concept of gender traveled beyond the boundaries of the Hopkins clinic, how it was circulated in the United States and internationally, and how it was adapted to different locales and disciplines.
7. How the notion of psychological sex and the idea of a learned gender role were reformulated as gender identity in the field of psychology.
While providing fascinating individual accounts extracted from medical records, the author doesn't take a side in the sex/gender debate. She doesn't delve into the philosophy of gender nor does she offer a conclusion.
My own conclusion from reading the book is that gender is result of both nature and nurture and is therefore complex whereby binary positions do no justice to the established science.
April 11, 2023
A thorough book covering 20th century sexology and work regarding Intersex patients. This book serves well to track both the development of various ideas of gender, and how these were then accepted and understood by various groups and movements, as well as aiming to centre patient voices. It helps to demonstrate flaws of medicine which have long been present.
My critiques would be that the book's detail becomes scarcer following the 50s and the introduction of Money's "gender roles", the narrative mostly ending before the 80s despite the fact that many societal movements in understanding of gender occurred after this time.
However, for a medical perspective of how theories of gender were developed, as well as a good look at the rarely discussed world of intersex healthcare and history, this is the best book to start with.
My critiques would be that the book's detail becomes scarcer following the 50s and the introduction of Money's "gender roles", the narrative mostly ending before the 80s despite the fact that many societal movements in understanding of gender occurred after this time.
However, for a medical perspective of how theories of gender were developed, as well as a good look at the rarely discussed world of intersex healthcare and history, this is the best book to start with.
December 10, 2022
Solid research on an interesting subject that shows the complexity of an evolving idea in its historical context. The focus is on US medical practice, especially with regard to the management of intersex patients, so there is (sadly) no discussion of the interesting work of Hirschfeld and the Institute for Sexual Science (which is surely relevant).
Eder's book fills an important gap in the historical record and maintains a commendable tone of neutrality for such a polarizing subject. The writing is pretty dry and academic, but the book is well worth reading if you're interested in the concept of gender or the history of ideas.
Eder's book fills an important gap in the historical record and maintains a commendable tone of neutrality for such a polarizing subject. The writing is pretty dry and academic, but the book is well worth reading if you're interested in the concept of gender or the history of ideas.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews