Un monstre parfait : le savoir médical face au corps féminin (XVIème siècle, France et Italie)

Representations of the female body in Renaissance medicine have an ancient origin, based on the androcentric paradigm of the Aristotelian and Galenic traditions. At the end of the Sixteenth-century, many physicians discuss this model by elaborating paradoxical explanations about female nature. The question of the female body's monstrosity is a really problematic point. This article examines some extracts from the treatise De Generatione et Partu Hominis by Domenico Terelio and from the manual Trois livres appartenant aux infirmitez et maladies des femmes by Jean Liébault in order to underline the effects of this controversy on the construction of modern medical knowledge. Even if it tries to eliminate common sense's prejudices to become a science, early modern medicine remains anchored to cultural stereotypes that invalidate its rational thoughts. [Publisher's text].