Intersex Somatotype

Title: Intersex Somatotype
Date Created: 1941-1946
Creator: Marjorie Winslow
Identifier: 996003130
Original Location: Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal
Current Location: Kingston Museum of Healthcare
Description: This figurine was used during the Second World War to help students without clinical experience ‘recognize’, diagnose, and treat the supposedly pathological traits of intersex peoples’ bodies. As a teaching aid and visual representation, this somatotype demonstrates medical and scientific institutions’ role in solidifying oppressive biases across generations of practitioners.
The project that created these somatotypes was inspired by similar models made at Johns Hopkins in the United States, showing how a transnational network of medical expertise interacted with the local practices solidifying the pathologization of intersex people among Canadians.
In a 1999 interview, Marjorie Winslow (the artist) recalled that Dr. Robertson encouraged her to exaggerate the 'abnormal' qualities while sculpting the somatotypes. In this case, Winslow used actual human hair to simulate the body hair, pubic hair and moustache that physicians viewed as indicative of the supposed ‘pathology’.
Credit: Marjorie Winslow and Dr. Edwin Robertson, "Intersex Somatotype," c. 1941-1946. Kingston Museum of Healthcare.
Link: https://mhc.andornot.com/en/permalink/artifact410
Contributor: Matthew Edwards, PhD Candidate, University of Guelph