2023/11/28 by Pauline Dirven · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes #History of Emotions Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/shm/hkad097
openalex publication_date 2023/11/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
This article asks why British mainstream forensic literature and practice did not acknowledge the long-term mental consequences of rape for victims and their need for a sympathetic approach before the 1970s. I argue that this was not simply out of ignorance, considering that in the period 1924-1978 there already were some medical practitioners-women doctors, psychiatrists and gynaecologists-who expressed concern for these matters. However, the forensic expert witnesses, who were influential in the field, considered the virtue of sympathy and the practices of care that women doctors promoted to be incompatible with the judicial virtue of impartiality. To avoid any suggestion of partiality, which would damage their authority in the adversarial courtroom, these men instead employed the epistemic virtue of emotional detachment. This led them to adopt a sceptical attitude towards rape victims and drew their attention away from the psychological care women and children might require.