Today’s Misformed Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
In colonial America, charges of impotence provoked physical examination of the impugned husbands. Some such colonial cases revealed what we might today consider intersex conditions, exposing not only the husband’s failure to perform sexually but also his physical anomaly. In June 1686, for example, Dorathy Clarke of Plymouth, Massachusetts, petitioned the court for a divorce, stating that her husband, Nathaniel Clarke, “hath not performed the duty of a husband to me.” Dorathy alleged that her husband was “misformed” and that he was “always unable to perform the act of generation.” She requested a divorce because their “lives are very uncomfortable in the sight of God.” Nathaniel denied the charges of “infirmity of body,” and so the court ordered that “his body be viewed by some persons skillful and judicious.” The court chose three male physicians to inspect Nathaniel’s body and give their judgment at the next court date. The findings of the physicians are not clear, but one month later the court decided that Dorathy would not be granted the divorce she requested.
Impotence, particularly if attributed to a “misformed” penis, was regarded as a potential indicator of a hermaphroditic condition. Bodily examinations were common in such cases. The three doctors who scrutinized Nathaniel Clarke may have been looking for an unusually small penis that might have hindered sexual intercourse or a malformation known as hypospadias, where the urethral opening was on the underside rather than the top of the penis. These conditions were recognized and, according to colonial law, would have been reason enough for a divorce, since they presumably predated the marriage contract. As the divorce was not granted, Nathaniel Clarke must have displayed some lesser (and acceptable) physical anomaly that left him capable of coitus or, alternatively, fully normal genitalia.
Culled from: Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex
Weegee Du Jour!
Weegee was the pseudonym of Arthur Fellig (June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968), a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography. Weegee worked in Manhattan, New York City’s Lower East Side as a press photographer during the 1930s and ’40s, and he developed his signature style by following the city’s emergency services and documenting their activity. Much of his work depicted unflinchingly realistic scenes of urban life, crime, injury and death.
Here’s a photo from the book Weegee’s New York: Photographs, 1935-1960
On the Spot, ca. 1940
Andersonville Prisoner Diary Entry Du Jour!
This is the continuation of the 1864 diary of Andersonville prisoner Private George A. Hitchcock (see the archived version for all entries up until now).
Here’s today’s entry:
October 15th. Shep. and I have been digging our grave deeper, over which we spread our blanket. Teeth ache all day another sleepless night.
Culled from: Andersonville: Giving Up the Ghost