Gynecological Exams in Rabbinic Literature: Women's Bodies between Female Autonomy and Male Control

Charlotte Fonrobert

This essay analyzes the rare texts in rabbinic literature that deal with what we would commonly call gynecological examinations. Based on the recent feminist debate on Graeco-Roman gynecological literatures I try to assess how women's bodies were treated in rabbinic culture. However, since we are often dealing with prescriptive rather than descriptive material I am not making claims about historical reality but about historical possibilities. My argument will be that while the rabbis recognized women's relative sovereignty over their own bodies, they nonetheless, attempted to by-pass this sovereignty and to devise ways in which to establish their control.

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