Le dispositif gynécologique : un panoptique entre technologie de contrôle et technologie de genre

Catalogues of medical and surgical equipment are a useful source for the social and cultural history of medicine. In particular, they provide data that can be used to examine healthcare systems and practices over a long period of time. Based on a corpus of contemporary catalogues from European manufacturers of gynaecological chairs, and focusing in particular on their visual content, this article aims to show the value of such sources for documenting the changes made to the gynaecological chair. The article also proposes to analyse the representations of objects, spaces, and care relationships as part of a gynaecological apparatus. It highlights the panoptic control and surveillance exercised over women's bodies by this apparatus. In the way it stages doctor-patient interactions, and in the absence of male bodies in the proctology and urology chairs, this apparatus appears to be a technology of gender.