# Immaculate Forms

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/helen-king/immaculate-forms/9781805223665

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![Immaculate Forms](https://quivercdn.com/covers/profile-audio/helen-king/immaculate-forms_978-18-0522-366-5.jpg?v=2026-08-07%2003%3A33%3A30)

- Book: [Immaculate Forms](https://www.bookquiver.com/helen-king/immaculate-forms) ([Immaculate Forms.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/helen-king/immaculate-forms.md))
- Authors: [Helen King](https://www.bookquiver.com/helen-king), [Elaine Claxton](https://www.bookquiver.com/elaine-claxton)
- Publisher: profile_audio
- Medium: audio
- ISBN: 978-18-0522-366-5
- Published: 2024-09-05
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Audiobook

## Description

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?