'Illuminating, thoughtful and scholarly'
FINANCIAL TIMES
 
'Does a fascinating job of exploring the history of women's bodies'
GREG JENNER
 
'Mind-blowing, fascinating stuff'
BBC WOMAN'S HOUR
 
'Authoritative, rich and wide-ranging, this is an immensely impressive work of scholarship' GUARDIAN
 
Throughout history, religious scholars, medical men and - occasionally - women themselves, have moulded thought on what 'makes' a woman.
 
She has been called the weaker sex, the fairer sex, the purer sex, among many other monikers. Often, she has been defined simply as 'Not A Man'.

Today, we are more aware than ever of the complex relationship between our bodies and our identities.
 
But contrary to what some may believe, what makes a woman is a question that has always been open-ended.
 
Immaculate Forms examines all the ways in which medicine and religion have played a gatekeeping role over women's organs.

It explores how the womb was seen as both the most miraculous organ in the body and as a sewer; uncovers breasts' legacies as maternal or sexual organs - or both; probes the mystery of the disappearing hymen, and asks, did the clitoris need to be discovered at all?