Journal article
Sex and Gender Bias in Anatomy and Physical Diagnosis Text Illustrations
JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, v 272(16), pp 1267-1270
26 Oct 1994
PMID: 7933371
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Objective.-To examine the sex and gender distribution of illustrations in two atlases, five anatomy texts, and five physical diagnosis texts.
Design.-Of 4060 illustrations that were identifiable by sex and gender in 12 commonly used anatomy and physical diagnosis textbooks, 3827 were categorized by two reviewers as female, male, or neutral.
Results.-Females were represented, on average, in 21.2% of the anatomy text illustrations; males were represented, on average, in 44.3%; 34.4% of the illustrations were neutral. Of the nonreproductive anatomy illustrations, a mean of 11.1% (range, 4.6% to 23.8%) depicted women and 43.1% (range, 35.4% to 56.2%) depicted men. Of nonreproductive anatomy illustrations, a mean of 45.8% (range, 27.2% to 59.9%) were neutral. Overall, the physical diagnosis text illustrations demonstrated a more equal sex and gender distribution (21.5% female and 24.8% male). However, in the reproductive chapters of the physical diagnosis texts, females were depicted in a mean of 71.1% (range, 63.2% to 79.0%) of the illustrations, while in the nonreproductive chapters, females were depicted in 8.8% of total illustrations.
Conclusions.-In anatomy and physical diagnosis texts, women are underrepresented in illustrations of nonreproductive anatomy. The finding that males are depicted in a majority of nonreproductive anatomy illustrations may perpetuate the image of the male body as the normal or standard model for medical education.
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Details
- Title
- Sex and Gender Bias in Anatomy and Physical Diagnosis Text Illustrations
- Creators
- K D MendelsohnL Z NiemanK IsaacsS LeeS P Levison
- Publication Details
- JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, v 272(16), pp 1267-1270
- Publisher
- Amer Medical Assoc
- Number of pages
- 4
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:A1994PN06800032
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84942004824
- Other Identifier
- 991019184209404721
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- Web of Science research areas
- Medicine, General & Internal