Not Only a Female Icon: the Breast in Symbolism and Medicine (From the 14th to the 17th Centuries)

Abstract

For many centuries, the physician’s interest in the female body and, consequently, in the diseases linked to the genitourinary system and the differences between the sexual organs, tended to concentrate on philosophical traditions whose origins were rooted in anthropological, religious, magical and superstitious notions, rather than actually making use of biological observations. Even when the great authors speak of ‘woman’s illnesses’, they almost all refer to pregnancy and childbirth and thus celebrate their exclusive and recognised social role as ‘breeders’. There was only one exception, in other words, when dealing with diseases that could affect the female breast and, in particular, tumour pathology. Precisely because the breast could be identified as a more immediate sexual attraction for men, this organ was considered their personal ‘property’, especially after having nourished them and subsequently fulfilling them sexually, and therefore great interest and special attention was paid to any diseases affecting it. As a result, the breast wrote its own ‘history’, which followed two parallel and often overlapping paths in the 14 th -16 th centuries: the first pigeonholed it as ‘‘traditional knowledge’, expressed in Recipes and Secret Advice dedicated exclusively to women; while the second took form in the production of treatises in the medical field, which exploited the progress in anatomic knowledge on physiology and pathology carried out on respectively healthy and sick organs.