Immaculate Forms : Uncovering the History of Women’s Bodies

‘Delightful, timely and critical’ Cat Bohannon’Expertly weaves science, history and culture to illuminate the most misunderstood parts of our bodies’ Dr Jennifer GunterThroughout 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’.

Today, we are more aware than ever of the complex relationship between our bodies and our identities. But contrary to what some may believe, what makes a woman is a question that has always been open-ended.

Immaculate Forms 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?