Medievalism and Feminism

Abstract

is this journal Speculum? prospective graduate student asked me. Is it some sort of radical feminist journal? I saw copies of it in Professor Soand-So's office, and I can't imagine that he would subscribe to a feminist publication.... So, what is Speculum? To understand this question, I had to remember myself at twenty-two years of age, educated but not professionalized, more familiar with as an instrument used in gynecological examinations than with Speculum, premierjournal for medievalists. Vaguely recalling my own puzzlement at first encountering a journal for medievalists called Speculum, I explained to student Latin derivation of title, importance of journal in medieval studies, and absolute absence of a connection between title of journal and anything gynecological. We chuckled a bitin female solidarity-about naivete of Speculum's founders (all male, we correctly assumed), who had chosen to title their journal with a name that resonated so strongly (and so misleadingly) for modern women. But were founders of Speculum really naive, really unaware of other meanings of their chosen title? In months since that student and I so blithely assumed their ignorance of gynecological speculum, I have begun to doubt it. The records of formation of journal in 1920s tell us only that a few other titles were considered (e.g., The Middle Ages and Mediaeval Studies) and that E. K. Rand (who, as it turned out, became first editor of journal) especially advocated choice of Speculum because it suggested to him the multitudinous mirrors in which people of Middle Ages liked to gaze at themselves and other folk.' This sounds quite innocent of any gynecological reflection. Nevertheless, it now seems possible to me that Rand and his associates knew gynecological meaning of speculum. In a rare moment for a medievalist, I have been able to conduct oral history on this point. My maternal grandfather, who in 1920s was practicing obstetrics and gynecology in New Jersey, has assured me that was in regular use at time, that his patients almost certainly knew name of this instrument, and that although most men at that time might have never seen a speculum, they probably knew of its gynecological use.2 What he remembers so clearly can be confirmed in written sources. At time that Speculum received its title, most common meaning of speculum was its medical meaning; gynecological was regularly used by physicians; and it