Gender Segregation and the Possibility of Arabo-Galenic Gynecological Practice in the Medieval Islamic World

Abstract

There is a widespread assumption that, in the medieval Islamic world, a cultural emphasis on female modesty and gender separation resulted in male physicians never having the expectation or opportunity to put their gynecological and obstetrical knowledge to practical use. However, a wide range of textual evidence suggests that, in many communities, there was a broad acceptance of intimate interactions between male practitioners and female patients. These interactions included verbal consultations, manual examinations, and physical procedures relating to fertility and childbirth, as well as diseases of the sexual organs. Some male authors of medical texts also convey the expectation that the information in their texts would come to be known and utilized by women themselves, through female medical intermediaries.