Victorian Era Obstetrics: Frankly, She Wasn't Amused

"Most nineteenth-century doctors mastered the art of performing gynecological examinations on fully clothed patients. 

More often than not, these examinations were done with the patient standing in an upright position. The doctor simply slipped his hand up the woman's skirt, taking pains to turn his head the other way during the examination so as to avoid making eye contact or doing anything else that might offend her tender sensibilities.

Of course, using a speculum was pretty much out of the question. While this particular gynecological instrument had been available to physicians since the start of the century (it was invented in France in 1801), the American Medical Association had been advising against its use since 1851, noting both the embarrassment that a vaginal examination might cause to the woman and the "hazard" it might case to the doctor's reputation and status.

There was also considerable debate about whether it was appropriate for the attending physician to see a woman's genitals while she was giving birth -- or whether it would be best for all concerned if he draped the patient in order to safeguard her modesty and then simply reached under the sheet to assist in the delivery as the baby's head started to crown."

- Excerpted from Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamas: Women of the Great White North by Ann Douglas (McArthur and Company, 1999).