Sex, Gender, & the History of Medicine
Examines the relationship between sexed and gendered bodies and medicine from the ancient world to today, focusing on analysis of primary and secondary sources and development of scholarly arguments.
Summary
What you’ll be able to do
Explain and assess how historical - particularly ancient Classical and Near Eastern - theories of sex, gender, and medicine inform our beliefs and understandings today.
Assess how cultural, medical, and scientific understandings and definitions of sex and gender have changed (or not) over time.
Identify major developments in the history of medicine and the medical profession, particularly as relates to sexed and gendered bodies.
Recognize health and illness as grounded in personal experience, develop empathy for others' experiences and use creative means to reflect on those experiences.
Comprehend and evaluate complex arguments about politics, values, healthcare, and health in ancient and contemporary society.
Assess what health means among differently positioned people (e.g., with respect to race, class, gender, culture, disability, age).
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2· UW Guide 3· UW Guide 4
Grade history
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Prerequisites
Course mapSophomore standing
- Sophomore standing
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Prerequisite text tree
- Sophomore standing
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
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Calendar & sections
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Student experience
the class
Examines the relationship between sexed and gendered bodies and medicine from the ancient world to today. Considers such questions as: How have sexed bodies (male, female, intersex) been distinguished throughout medical history? What happens to bodies between or outside the binary? Which bodies get marked out for medical analysis and intervention? Examines the evolution of ideas in medicine that emerge from beliefs about sexed and gendered bodies. Focuses on analysis of primary sources and secondary sources and the development of scholarly arguments about continuities and change over time. Assesses how modern beliefs and practices surrounding sex gender, medicine and their mutual interplay are rooted in and/or reacting to beliefs and practices from the premodern past.
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Topics
- Distinction of sexed bodies (male, female, intersex) throughout medical history.
- Bodies between or outside the binary.
- Medical analysis and intervention of specific bodies.
- Evolution of medical ideas emerging from beliefs about sexed and gendered bodies.
- Modern beliefs and practices rooted in or reacting to the premodern past.
Skills
- Analyze primary and secondary sources to develop scholarly arguments about continuities and change over time.
- Explain and assess how historical theories of sex, gender, and medicine inform contemporary beliefs.
- Assess changes in cultural, medical, and scientific understandings of sex and gender over time.
- Identify major developments in the history of medicine and the medical profession related to sexed and gendered bodies.
- Comprehend and evaluate complex arguments about politics, values, healthcare, and health in ancient and contemporary society.
- Assess what health means among differently positioned people regarding race, class, gender, culture, disability, and age.
Grades
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Catalog & offerings
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Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
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Model & dataset provenance
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