Gender,Body And Disease:a Research On Female Medical Diagnosis And Treatment Of Ming Dynasty

Under the circumstances of gender system and socialized Confucianism,women in Ming Dynasty were always in an agonizing and depressive state of life that resulted in their sensitive and weak bodies,so they were easily attacked by diseases.Meanwhile,affected by medical concept,moral norms and sexual taboos,medical writing was full of a public opinion,that is 'Women's Diseases Are Not Easy to Cure'.It formed the basic understanding of women's diseases in society,and then let female medical diagnosis and treatment more complex and difficult.During the course of medical treatment,problems of selecting medical doctors,making a diagnosis and paying for medical care should be taken into account,and it must be realized that female patients' doctors and relatives were also important participants.As the main body of medical health care,female patients relied on their relatives or a third party to perform medical consultation and communication.In a few cases,some of them even could make a sound by themselves,which called 'Voice of Patients'.Because of sensibility and lack of knowledge,women's diseases and related medical practices has its emotional characteristics.And allowing for feminine physical traits and physiology construction,it shows a certain degree of complexity and uncertainty.Furthermore,in this medical field,class distinction still exists and finally affects female patients' medical conditions on account of the significant differences among status,wealth and knowledge.Combined with the content and feature of female medical treatment in Ming Dynasty,this article will analyse its social and gender implications from the perspective of social gender culture.The main purpose of this study is to probe into women's state of life,social status and self-cognition,discuss the relationships among gender,body and disease,and then strive to reveal the real situations of women's life at that time.