The Fake Father of Gynecology

Dr. Sims has been known as the father of gynecology since the 1800s, a term itself that drips with the misogyny of the gate-kept modern medicine community. This man used enslaved women to learn about female anatomy and as test subjects in his surgeries, while they simultaneously worked for him both inside and outside of the operation room. But, this reality was replaced by a narrative focusing on the success of a white man and advances made for the health of rich white women. These black women were the true pioneers of this sugary, acting as the surgeon and the patient but their pain and innovation were lost to our white-washed history books. This piece is a representation of these true origins of gynecology while also displaying the twisted narrative of its history, white benefit covering black pain.