Sir, – Brian O’Brien (Letters, May 16th) says that some of the criticisms contained in my opinion piece on James Marion Sims (“The ‘Father of Gynaecology’ Dr James Marion Sims and his brutal experiments on slaves”, Opinion & Analysis, May 14th) were “arguably harsh in a historical context”.
Sims was a intelligent man. He was very well read and was able to work out many things for himself. Sims started his five years of experimental surgery on enslaved women with vesicovaginal fistulas in 1845, the same year as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave was published.
Whereas many campaigned and later fought to end slavery, Sims did not. Instead, he exploited the power that slavery gave him, and when the civil war was over, he lamented the outcome. Harsh, by the standards of the time? I think not. – Yours, etc,
CHRIS FITZPATRICK,
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Dublin 6.
