Let our language reflect our profession’s evolving thoughtfulness

For years my Wednesday’s have begun with the colorectal surgeon in the next-door theatre asking me if I’d be curing more hysteria, and me retorting with a crude quip about him sticking to operating in crap rather than speaking it.

I am ashamed to admit that it did take years for me to actually consider the exchange as anything more than harmless fun poking.

Maybe Nick seemed more smug than usual, or maybe I was early to theatre for once, but for whatever reason, one day I thought I’d google the etymology of the word “hysterectomy”, wondering if “hyster” was Greek or Latin for uterus. You can imagine my incredulous shock when I discovered that it was neither. This is what I learned.

The term hysteria was coined by Hippocrates in the 5th century BC and used by other ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers such as Plato. Back then, it was believed that the woman's womb travelled around her body causing all sorts of ailments, both psychological and physical. Hysteria meant symptoms attributable to the womb.

From the 15th through to the 19th century, scientific literature used hysteria to describe both mental disorders, only affecting women, characterized by emotional excess, and any behaviours considered to be negative, and not fitting a particular narrow version of femininity, for example, wanting to have a career.  All these symptoms and traits were understood to be caused by dysfunction of the uterus.

Centuries after Hippocrates described the condition hysteria, a cure was proposed.  It was called a hysterectomy.

So hysteria came first. Describing emotional and psychiatric symptoms, considered to be negative, in women. And a surgical fix, hysterectomy, was born from that language and that understanding of women.

I don’t think I need to argue the point. There really is no valid opposing point of view is there? Outdated and gender-offensive textbooks will have to be reprinted? But hold on, they’re all online now, so that’s easy!

It’s time to exchange hysterectomy for uterectomy, which accurately describes the surgical procedure, appropriately drawing from the Latin word uterus.