{"id":6936,"date":"2025-11-04T01:06:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T01:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianinsightnews.com\/?p=6936"},"modified":"2025-11-04T01:08:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T01:08:35","slug":"6936","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianinsightnews.com\/?p=6936","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen Women Couldn\u2019t Be Examined: Chinese Female Patients Once Pointed to Ivory Dolls for Diagnosis\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Summary & Historical Context<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For many centuries in China, women seeking medical attention faced strict cultural constraints. Under the influence of Confucian gender norms, direct physical examination of a woman\u2019s body by a male physician was often socially unacceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To work around this barrier, some physicians kept a small carved figure \u2014 typically of a reclining female nude \u2014 often made of ivory or jade. These figurines came to be known in English-language commentary as \u201cdiagnostic dolls\u201d or \u201cdoctor\u2019s ladies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a female patient arrived (or sometimes via a female attendant), she would sit or stand behind a screen (or curtain) so the male doctor wouldn\u2019t directly see her body. Her wrist (for pulse) might be extended through the screen, but for other indications: she (or her attendant) would point to the doll to indicate where on her body she felt pain or discomfort. Then the doctor would combine that information (along with pulse, questions, other observation) to make a diagnosis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These dolls were documented at least as early as the Ming Dynasty (15th century) and were still in production and use through the Qing Dynasty (ending early 20th century). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some additional points of interest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n