The orifice revisited: women in gynaecological texts

A content analysis was carried out on obstetric and gynaecological textbooks recommended for medical students at four Australian universities. The texts were read for a hidden curriculum of sexist ideology. This study is a partial replication of a study carried out by Scully and Bart in the United States eighteen years ago. The findings of Scully and Bart demonstrated that obstetric and gynaecological texts contained outdated and erroneous views about women's sexuality and portrayed women in stereotyped roles. It was anticipated that institutionalized changes may have occurred since the time that Scully and Bart carried out their research and the texts would reflect this accordingly; particularly with the effect of the women's health movement which has been expressing dissatisfaction with the health care system. The findings of this research show that sexist ideology still pervades the obstetric and gynaecological texts, though to a lesser extent than eighteen years ago. There are some differences from what Scully and Bart discovered, but major similarities were found. The main difference between the results of this study and the findings of Scully and Bart, is that the majority of texts analysed here did not contain outdated and incorrect information about women's sexual response. For example, none of the texts refer to vaginal orgasm as the 'mature' response for women. The main similarity is that women's sexuality is still depicted with a heterosexual perspective, with marriage and mothering the 'natural' aspirations of all women.