"Deflowered" bodies. Women, medicine and law in Early Modern Bologna.
Dissertationsprojekt von Laura Schiavone
Betreuer: Dr. Brendan Röder
Trials for defloration are a useful source to reconstruct the intersection between history of gender and the history of medicine. These trials were commonly initiated by women - mostly coming from the middle classes - who had lost their virginity before marriage and used the court to reclaim their honour. During the investigations that followed, their bodies were observed and examined, becoming the objects of different forms of knowledge.
Looking at trial records from the 17th and 18th century Bologna, this research aims at reconstructing the network of knowers who observed and reported bodily signs of defloration. After reconstructing what was at stake, what led to denunciation and how a trial normally developed, the focus shifts onto three groups of knowers: physicians/ surgeons, midwives, and lay knowers. The aim is to reconstruct: a) how each form of knowledge was acquired, expressed, and justified; b) how different groups of knowers interacted with each other; c) for which goal(s) knowledge was acquired and employed.