Take the ‘reflex doctrine’ of the nineteenth century, which held that a disturbance in any part of the body could cause malfunction in any other, by a ‘reflex action’ of the nerves travelling via the spine. Doctors regarded the female sex organs as particularly prone to exerting these malign influences, and removed them to treat an astonishing array of conditions: paralysis, fits and ailments of the heart, thyroid, stomach, skin, ears and eyes. When Marchiano realised that girls who said they felt like boys were being given drugs and surgeries that would leave them sterile, at first she
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