Although we expect medical science to uphold the principles of evidence and impartiality, it carries the burden of its own truly troubling history. Medical progress has always reflected the realities of a changing world, and what it means to be human.
Join Dr Elinor Cleghorn as she unpacks the roots of the gender pain gap and explores the ways that medicine has failed women. She will chart this fascinating journey from the ‘wandering womb’ of ancient Greece, to the witch trials of Medieval Europe, through the dawn of Hysteria, and on to our modern-day understanding of conditions such as endometriosis.
About the speaker
Dr Elinor Cleghorn is a feminist cultural historian. After receiving her PhD in 2012, Elinor spent three years as a post-doctoral researcher at the Ruskin School, University of Oxford, working on an interdisciplinary medical humanities project. She now works as a writer and researcher, and lives in Sussex. Her own pain and other symptoms were dismissed for seven years before she was finally diagnosed with lupus.