Victorian clitoridectomy: Isaac Baker Brown and his harmless operative procedure.

PIP: Examines the use of clitoridectomy in Victorian England as an example of the persistent connection between belief system and medical practice. The Victorian context of gynecological practice is briefly described, followed by a discussion of the use of clitoridectomy by Isaac Baker Brown, an eminent gynecological surgeon who advocated its use to cure a variety of nervous disorders. Brown's 1866 book. "On the curability of certain forms of insanity, epilepsy, catalepsy, and hysteria in females" sparked a controversy over the place of clitoridectomy in gynecological practice which culminated in ostracism of Brown by the medical establishment. The primary reason for Brown's ostracism appears to have been his desire to gain public recognition for a practice that was quietly employed by others; his efforts were viewed as a threat by male physicians who had only recently achieved success in establishing gynecology as a legitimate branch of medicine. Few doctors who condemned the operations advocated by Brown disputed his contention that female emotional disorders were based on genital misfunctions. The scientific investigation called for by Brown to justify his methods might, if carried out, have helped dispel some of the myths concerning female anatomy and psychology which flourished in the medical profession and social mores of the day.

PMID: 12263443 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]