Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This event occurred on May 18, 2025.
Outraged at their inability to control their own bodies and an imposed ignorance about women’s health, women across the United States launched hundreds of political projects centered on women’s bodies throughout the 1970s and 1980s. They peered inside their bodies, developed feminist knowledge, and founded women’s clinics. Activists and artists created profound change by channeling their determination, rage, and vision to empower women, wresting control from the forces of patriarchal oppression. Using examples from her book Looking through the Speculum, Professor Judith Houck will share the images and stories of feminist alternatives from the women’s health movement.
Jointly sponsored by the Southern California Society for the History of Medicine, this program is inspired by the liberating acts of self-representation performed by feminist artists held in the Getty Research Institute’s special collections.
Judith Houck is professor of gender and women’s studies and history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Houck’s work focuses on gender and health in the United States. Her recent book Looking Through the Speculum: Examining the Women’s Health Movement (Chicago UP, 2024) examines the emergence, development, travails, and triumphs of the women’s health movement in the United States. She is currently working on a history of lesbians in HIV/AIDS activism.
Learn more about this event: https://www.getty.edu/calendar/stories-from-the-womans-health-movement/
______________________________________________________________________
The Getty Research Institute is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars programs. Its library and special collections of rare materials and digital resources serve an international community of scholars and the interested public. The Research Institute's activities and scholarly resources guide and sustain each other and together provide a unique environment for research, critical inquiry, and scholarly exchange.
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/
Getty is a world-renowned cultural and philanthropic organization that shares and advances the world’s visual art and cultural heritage. Collectively and individually, our programs pursue our mission in Los Angeles and throughout the world. Our engagement in culture, arts, and philanthropy is achieved through our constituent programs: the Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Foundation, Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, and Getty Trust.
Getty: https://www.getty.edu/
Getty Conservation Institute: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/
Getty Foundation: https://www.getty.edu/foundation/
Getty Museum: https://www.getty.edu/museum/
Getty Villa Museum: https://www.getty.edu/visit/villa/
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/
This event occurred on May 18, 2025.
Outraged at their inability to control their own bodies and an imposed ignorance about women’s health, women across the United States launched hundreds of political projects centered on women’s bodies throughout the 1970s and 1980s. They peered inside their bodies, developed feminist knowledge, and founded women’s clinics. Activists and artists created profound change by channeling their determination, rage, and vision to empower women, wresting control from the forces of patriarchal oppression. Using examples from her book Looking through the Speculum, Professor Judith Houck will share the images and stories of feminist alternatives from the women’s health movement.
Jointly sponsored by the Southern California Society for the History of Medicine, this program is inspired by the liberating acts of self-representation performed by feminist artists held in the Getty Research Institute’s special collections.
Judith Houck is professor of gender and women’s studies and history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Houck’s work focuses on gender and health in the United States. Her recent book Looking Through the Speculum: Examining the Women’s Health Movement (Chicago UP, 2024) examines the emergence, development, travails, and triumphs of the women’s health movement in the United States. She is currently working on a history of lesbians in HIV/AIDS activism.
Learn more about this event: https://www.getty.edu/calendar/stories-from-the-womans-health-movement/
______________________________________________________________________
The Getty Research Institute is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars programs. Its library and special collections of rare materials and digital resources serve an international community of scholars and the interested public. The Research Institute's activities and scholarly resources guide and sustain each other and together provide a unique environment for research, critical inquiry, and scholarly exchange.
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/
Getty is a world-renowned cultural and philanthropic organization that shares and advances the world’s visual art and cultural heritage. Collectively and individually, our programs pursue our mission in Los Angeles and throughout the world. Our engagement in culture, arts, and philanthropy is achieved through our constituent programs: the Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Foundation, Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, and Getty Trust.
Getty: https://www.getty.edu/
Getty Conservation Institute: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/
Getty Foundation: https://www.getty.edu/foundation/
Getty Museum: https://www.getty.edu/museum/
Getty Villa Museum: https://www.getty.edu/visit/villa/
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/
