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Understanding the Female Body in Early Modern England
Halouzková, Kateřina ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Znojemská, Helena (referee)
The BA thesis will concentrate on the comprehension of the female body in early modern England, dating from 1400 to 1789, with a focus on the woman's reproductive system which was clearly connected to the understanding of her as a feminine being in a socio-cultural context. Firstly, I will analyze the representation of women in English translations of the Bible, where woman is classified as an inferior being to man. The reason is that God first created Adam and from his side came Eve, which leads to an interesting analogy later discussed by Thomas Laqueur and defined by the theory of one sex model. Adopting this concept for my own analysis I shall argue that woman was biologically regarded as an "imperfect" man, therefore her organs were seen as the same as man's but incomplete. Because Eve was the first sinner, the purpose of her reproductive system, meaning mainly menstruation and labour pains, was seen as a type of punishment. It had a great impact in the cultural sphere, meaning that female sexuality conjured fear and repulsion, yet had and undeniable allure. The discussion will continue with the description of how was female body seen medically. Human constitution was derived from the Greek physician Claudius Galenus, whose understanding of anatomy and medicine was principally influenced by the theory...
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