This most dangerous instrument: propriety, power, and the vaginal speculum

Abstract

The vaginal speculum is an instrument in a contested technology. As the oldest instrument in the technology of obstetric surveillance and diagnosis, the vaginal speculum provoked serious debates about the propriety and power of looking at women's bodies. Contemporary devices, such as the ultrasound machine and the electronic fetal monitor, continue to engender debates about looking. Nurses are key participants in technologically mediated spectatorship, as nursing practice with women increasingly comprises looking at and through them with instruments.