User:Walkhd/Mothers of Gynecology Movement

The Mothers of Gynecology Movement sprang out of criticism of 19th century American gynecologist J. Marion Sims' experimental surgeries on enslaved Black women who were unable to consent to their surgeries. Their surgeries were often performed without anesthesia.

Terri Kapsalis writes in Mastering the Female Pelvis, "Sims' fame and wealth are as indebted to slavery and racism as they are to innovation, insight, and persistence, and he has left behind a frightening legacy of medical attitudes toward and treatments of women, particularly women of color." ''': Does not seem to contribute to factual information in article about the mothers of gynecology. Seems misplaced.'''

In 2017, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a commission to evaluate a statue of J. Marion Sims in Central Park. During the 90-day evaluation period, author J.C. Hallman's essay about the Sims monument, "Monumental Error", appeared on the cover of Harper's Magazine, and. Hallman’s essay was published during the time of the New York City Public Design Commission’s public forums for the evaluation of to evaluate city monuments. The piece contributed to the greater, nationwide debate about the role of Confederate monuments. The article was distributed to the entire commission. The Sims statue was voted out by unanimous decision and removed in April 2018.

In March 2021, artist Michelle Browder, an activist for the recognition of racial bias towards the black community,  held an event in Los Angeles where she asked the public to bring discarded metal objects so they could be melted down in order to create a monument to the mothers of gynecology. The monument is currently being completed in San Francisco. Sims reported in his own medical literature that Anarcha was 17 and pregnant when he completed the first of 30 total surgeries on her; Lucy spent three months in recovery from a surgery of his. Browder said to the San Francisco Chronicle: "If you've ever had a Pap smear, you have Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey to thank." The monument (external link added) will be was erected in Montgomery, Alabama on September 24, 2021. "Discarded objects represent how Black women have been treated in this country," Browder said to the Los Angeles Times. "But it also represents the beauty that's in the broken and the discarded."