Introduction

Abstract

A central feature of the present wave of feminism is the focus on women’s bodies and the control of their bodies by people — usually men — other than themselves. There are basically two areas of women’s lives over which such control is exercised: their sexuality and their reproductive capacity. There are also a number of identified and legitimated people who exercise this control, and in so doing often have the backing of the law. Among them are husbands. For example, on marriage, a woman loses her right to deny her husband sexual access and, in law, rape within marriage does not exist. Moreover, in order to avoid legal action by irate husbands, doctors can insist that a married woman gets her husband’s consent to her sterilisation (Coote and Gill, 1974). While many feminists have been concerned with wresting control of sexuality and reproduction away from husbands, modern feminism has also identified another group of authorities, who in developed secular societies in the late twentieth century, appear to exercise, on occasion, even more power over women’s bodies than men in general or husbands in particular. These are the qualified medical practitioners, particularly those, such as gynaecologists and obstetricians, who specialise in dealing with women’s reproductive capacity.