The name hysterectomy is rooted in a mental health condition – “hysteria” – that was once believed to affect women. But we now know this condition doesn’t exist.
Continuing to call this significant operation a hysterectomy both perpetuates misogyny and hampers people’s understanding of what it is.
Hysteria was a psychiatric condition first formally defined in the 5th century BCE. It had many symptoms, including excessive emotion, irritability, anxiety, breathlessness and fainting.
But hysteria was only diagnosed in women. Male physicians at the time claimed these symptoms were caused by a “wandering womb”. They believed the womb (uterus) moved around the body looking for sperm and disrupted other organs.
About one in three Australian women will have their uterus removed. A hysterectomy is one of the most common surgeries worldwide.
However, in a survey colleagues and I did of almost 500 Australian adults, which is yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, one in five people thought hysterectomy meant removal of the ovaries, not the uterus.
It’s true some hysterectomies for cancer do also remove the ovaries. A hysterectomy or partial hysterectomy is the removal of only the uterus, a total hysterectomy removes the uterus and cervix, while a radical hysterectomy usually removes the uterus, cervix, uterine tubes and ovaries.
There are important differences between these hysterectomies, so they should be named to clearly indicate the nature of the surgery.
Research has shown ambiguous terminology such as “hysterectomy” is associated with low patient understanding of the procedure and the female anatomy involved.
There are many eponyms (something named after a person) in anatomy and medicine, such as the Achilles tendon and Parkinson’s disease. They are almost exclusively the names of white men.
Eponyms for female anatomy and procedures include the Fallopian tubes, Pouch of Douglas, and Pap smear.
Pap smear gives no indication of its location or function. The new cervical screening test is named exactly that, which clarifies it samples cells of the cervix. This helps people understand this tests for risk of cervical cancer.
Language in medicine impacts patient care and health. It needs to be accurate and clear, not include words associated with bias or discrimination, and not disempower a person.
For these reasons, the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists recommends removing eponyms from scientific and medical communication.
Meanwhile, experts have rightly argued it’s time to rename the hysterectomy to uterectomy.
Source: Inaccurate and misogynistic: why we need to make the term ‘hysterectomy’ history