Dittrick Medical History Center’s Brandy Schillace discusses the history of the speculum

Why no one can design a better speculum

The Atlantic: Brandy Schillace, research associate at the Dittrick Medical History Center, talked about the history of the speculum and why the device became popular in the medical world. “Male doctors looked around and thought, ‘Hey, [child birth is] something we should be doing,’” she said. “But they couldn’t do that if everybody saw birth as being this natural thing. You needed tools and devices.”