Chance Solem-Pfeifer
In light of all the visible and societal separations between women and men, the idea of the male and female genders as one seems like a foreign concept.
However, Western history shows us that original gender ideas are derived from a one-sex model — essentially, the female gender was considered a distorted interpretation of the male gender.
The medical misconceptions of this one-sex model, such as the human body being composed of four elements — or humors, are the topics of Dr. Lynn Botelho’s lecture titled “Old Age and the Disappearing Woman,” part of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Medieval and Renaissance Program Colloquium Series.
Today, Botelho, a professor of history at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, will discuss the issue of the aging woman in early modern England, emphasizing that these women were medically treated as men.
“Classical medicine says old women became old men,” said Botelho, whose extensive research on the topics covers both conventional works and the personal diaries of early modern Englanders. “They didn’t mention women. Popular view was the women dried out and became hard, crusty men.”
Botelho, who holds a doctorate from Cambridge University, notes that no medieval recipe book or midwife’s records make any mention of menopause or other fundamental concepts of the female aging process.
Though the staggering percentage of childhood fatalities in this era skews our view of the average lifespan, this lack of gender identity pigeonholed those women who reached adulthood and further maturation into male roles.
“Old women were more male in terms of cultural standards,” Botelho said. “They expected more authority in society because they were older and, therefore, wiser.”
At this stage, many women became midwives, the chief medical practitioners of the times, but ironically observed little regarding their own aging process beyond loss of eyesight and general physical deterioration.
The final portion of Botelho’s upcoming lecture will discuss this early modern paradigm’s meaningful connection to today’s society.
“Old women haven’t emerged from the shadow of old men,” Botelho said. “Not until 15 years ago were women prescribed drugs that had been tested on women, not men.”
Given the eclectic focus of Monday’s lecture, it is fittingly sponsored by UNL’s Department of History, the Women's and Gender Studies Program, the Medicine and Humanities Program and the Honors Program.
“We really appreciate being able to work with these other programs across campus,” said Carol Levin, the colloquium coordinator and the director the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program.
“You have to accept the parameters of the early modern world,” Botelho said. “Put yourself in the spot. And then have all the analytical skills kick in and relate it to today.”
CHANCESOLEM-PFEIFER@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
When: 7:30 p.m.How much: free
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