This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear the full conversation, visit keelysemler.substack.com.

I'm excited to introduce our guest today, Wendy Kline, Ph.D, a recognized scholar in the history of medicine and women’s health. Wendy is the Chair in the History of Medicine at Purdue University and has earned international recognition for her groundbreaking work. She is the author of several influential books, including Exposed: The Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam and Coming Home: How Midwives Changed Birth. Wendy has also contributed to notable documentaries, such as Netflix's Sex, Explained and PBS’s The Eugenics Crusade.

Please note: This is the free version of the episode. The final 15 minutes of this interview are behind a paywall. Paid subscribers will get an exclusive 15-minute extended interview with Wendy, along with a powerful 5-minute meditation to help you reconnect with your sacral energy center. Let the soothing binaural beats and nature sounds, captured from field studies around the world, guide you to a place of calm and balance—an ideal way to unwind and find peace amidst your day.

A paid subscription helps support the show and covers essential costs, including my editor, family expenses, and podcast operations. Your support through a paid subscription helps us continue providing valuable resources to families. If you can’t subscribe, there are still other ways to support—leaving a review, subscribing to the Motherlands Substack, following us on YouTube, or sharing the podcast with others makes a significant difference. As a full-time doula, educator, and mentor, your support in any form helps me continue this meaningful work. Thank you for being part of this community; your presence means everything.

In this episode, we explore crucial topics including:

Power and Control: How medical practices have historically been shaped by power imbalances, particularly the objectification of women’s bodies.

Gendered Assumptions and Patriarchy: The influence of gendered views and patriarchal structures in shaping medical training and women’s healthcare experiences.

Autonomy and Consent: The challenges in truly obtaining consent within power imbalances.

Cultural and Societal Influence: The role of cultural norms in shaping both medical practices and women's experiences with gynecological and reproductive health.

Wendy’s insights provide a compassionate and thought-provoking perspective.

You can purchase a copy of Wendy’s books here.

Connect with Wendy Kline.

5:15 How reproductive healthcare stigma allows for abuse of power

14:06 How the history of pelvic exams reflects society’s views of women’s bodies and autonomy

16:17 Can true medical informed consent be achieved within a medical system?

19:38 Ethical challenges arising in obstetrics

23:47 The impact of birth environment on health outcomes

28:35 Defensive medicine and liability fear

32:42 Honoring the work of the past to build the future of reproductive rights

41:58 How obstetrician training impacts their approach to natural versus hospital births

The final 15-30 minutes are available in our extended episode exclusively to Behind Closed Doors, where we enter a slower, softer room; one where guests speak with vulnerability, honesty, and courage about the unseen layers of their lives: fertility, loss, longing, intimacy, identity, and everything in between. These extended interviews and bonus episodes are held with tenderness, and shared only with paid subscribers. If you value candid insights and thoughtful conversations that often go unspoken, subscribe at keelysemler.substack.com and join us in exploring the deeper dialogue.

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You can connect with our host, Keely Semler, MPH, CD here or here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keelysemler.substack.com/subscribe

Uncovering the Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam

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