Ethical Matters:
Uncovering the History of Women’s Bodies

Journey into the complex medical and religious history of women’s bodies from classical Greece to the modern day. Helen King examines all the ways in which medicine and religion have played a gatekeeping role over women’s organs. Was the clitoris ever truly lost?

Throughout history, religious scholars, medical men and – occasionally – women themselves, have moulded thought on what ‘makes’ a woman. She has been called the weaker sex, the fairer sex, the purer sex, among many other monikers. Often, she has been defined simply as ‘Not A Man’. In this Ethical Matters talk, Helen examines all the ways in which medicine and religion have played a gatekeeping role over women’s organs. It explores how the womb was seen as both the most miraculous organ in the body and as a sewer; uncovers breasts’ legacies as maternal or sexual organs – or both; probes the mystery of the disappearing hymen, and asks, did the clitoris need to be discovered at all?

Helen King is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at The Open University. She is a historian of medicine and the body, and has held visiting posts at Gustavus Adolphus College, MN; the Peninsula Medical School; and the universities of Vienna, Texas, Notre Dame and British Columbia.

Helen’s book, Immaculate Forms: Uncovering the History of Women’s Bodies, will be available to buy in person from Newham Bookshop on the day.

Age Recommendation:

16+

Price: *All ticket prices below include a £1 booking fee*

In advance: Standard £10 • Living Support £7 • Students £7 • Members FREE
On the door: Standard £11 • Living Support £8 • Students £8 • Members FREE
Online: Standard £7 • Members FREE

Access Information

Due to the age and Grade II listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Hive Cafe (street access, step-free). There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.

A Woman’s World