Sarah B. Rodriguez

Sarah B. Rodriguez

Contributor

Sarah B. Rodriguez is a historian who teaches and writes about historical and contemporary issues in women’s reproductive and sexual health. She is also interested in the history of clinical practice and in the history of the ethics of clinical research. She published Female Circumcision and Clitoridectomy in the United States: A History of a Medical Therapy in 2014 and The Love Surgeon: A Story of Trust, Harm, and the Limits of Medical Regulation in 2020. She teaches at Northwestern University in the Global Health Studies Program in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, in the Department of Medical Education in the Feinberg School of Medicine, and is a core faculty member in the Graduate Program in Medical Humanities and Bioethics.

Clio Reads

Defining Normal Genitalia: A Review of Camille Nurka’s Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery

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Everything, of course, has a history, and in her book, Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery: Deviance, Desire and the Pursuit of Perfection, Camille Nurka seeks to find the historical path leading up to what have been popularly (and not entirely accurately) called “designer vaginas.” These surgeries are often performed, and requested, with the intention of surgically… Read more →

Feminism

Female Circumcision, Clitoridectomy, and American Culture

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In the United States, female circumcision (the removal of the clitoral hood) and clitoridectomy (the removal of the external nub of the clitoris) are nearly always regarded as practices that happen someplace else. When their presence within the United States is acknowledged, these procedures are positioned as having come from the outside, as originating with immigrants from… Read more →