The Woman in the Surgeon's Body

by Joan Cassell

Book Overview

Surgery is the most martial and masculine of medical specialties. The combat with death is carried out in the operating room, where the intrepid surgeon challenges the forces of destruction and disease. What, then, if the surgeon is a woman? Anthropologist Joan Cassell enters this closely guarded arena to explore the work and lives of women practicing their craft in what is largely a man's world.

Cassell observed thirty-three surgeons in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674004078
• ISBN13: 9780674004078
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent for women going into the surgical field

As a third year medical student I found a lot of answers to my own strange attraction to this traditionally all male field. Her basic thesis is very much from a sociological point of view, which may have been a bit over my head. Still, she pinpoints many of the issues women in the surgical field face on a daily basis. Insightful, interesting, and well written.

a very readable academic study

Ms Cassell has written a very readable book about women who practice surgery. In spite of the approachability, the book concerns an academic study, not a journalistic expose'. This study follows a previous anthropological study of male surgeons, and a dissertation in women's studies. This book will be of interest to people who are in the medical fields, those who study social behaviour, and those interested in women practicing 'nontraditional' careers. I think it would be of particular value for both men and women who are considering a career as a surgeon.

Very honest portraits

As a female surgeon, I am (of course) very interested in the subject matter. So many of the descriptions and explanations, of both the wonderful and awful aspects of being a surgeon, rang true to me. Along with Charles Bosk's "Forgive & Remember", I would highly recommend this book not only to any medical student, male or female, interested in a career in surgery, but also to any family member, loved one, or significant other of a surgeon. It will give you tremendous insight into our (rather singular) worldview, and how and why we "embody" it.