The Purpose of the Pelvic Exam: A Historical Analysis

Abstract: Why has the pelvic exam become a source of shame and fear? In this talk, Wendy Kline
argues that the real problem has to do with the unaddressed, indeed silenced, stigma surrounding
the practice of the routine pelvic exam.

Biography: Wendy Kline, Ph.D., is the Dema G. Seelye Chair in the History of Medicine at Purdue
University. She is the author of four monographs focusing on sexuality and
reproduction: Exposed: The Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam (2024); Coming Home: How
Midwives Changed Birth (2019), Bodies of Knowledge: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Women’s
Health in the Second Wave (2010); and Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics
from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom (2001). Her research has been supported by a
Fulbright Distinguished Scholar fellowship, a British Academy Fellowship, and a Huntington
Fellowship.

For Questions Contact: Gideon Manning, President of the Southern California Society for the
History of Medicine (gideonmanning@socalhistmed.org)