James Barry, famous for being the first doctor in British history to keep both mother and baby alive after a cesarean-section, was actually a woman disguising herself as a man in order to practice medicine.

Barry was born Margaret Ann Bulkley in late 18th century Ireland, and with the help of some progressive friends — crazy liberals who thought women were equally human! – she disguised herself as man, calling herself James Barry, and went to medical school in Edinburg in 1809. She graduated in May of 1812 and she (secretly!!) became Britain’s first qualified female medical doctor.

She now faced the obstacle of practising medicine. Women weren’t allowed to do such academically rigorous things, lest they die of hysteria from using their brain too much. The only way she could be a doctor was to remain “James Barry” for the rest of her life, so that is exactly what she did. She joined the British armed forces and traveled extensively as a military doctor. S/he made a good job of it too, and was so devoted to his/her guise as a man that s/he was called a “brute” by Florence Nightingale for his/her lack of chivalry. It wasn’t until s/he died of dysentery on 25 July 1865 that his/her “secret” leaked out.

Of course, the idea that a woman could actually be a doctor was just too ludicrous for many people, especially Barry’s fellow doctors, to accept without condition. After all, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson had only become the Britain’s first acknowledged female physician the year Barry died. Elizabeth Blackwell had become a physician in 1849 and her American counterparts were growing, but they had the decency (i.e. they were pushed toward it) to stay mainly in women “friendly” specialties like family practice and Ob/Gyn. There had always been midwifes and women tended to do the “doctoring” in the home, so that was sort of okay. Besides, everyone knew that female doctors were strange, unfeminine women who never married, probably because education rendered them sterile, and thus female physicians were suitably punished for their hubris. But a woman as a military physician? What?!?

Worse (from the point of view of sexism), Barry became famous for performing the first caesarean section by a British surgeon in which both the mother and child survived the operation. (Africans had been performing successful c-sections for decades, maybe for centuries, but they weren’t white and thus didn’t count.) That meant Barry wasn’t only competent — s/he was a groundbreaking and skilled surgeon.

So, what did Barry’s learned colleagues opine when his/her “secret” was revealed postmortem by a petulant servant cum attempted blackmailer? Why, his fellow physicians decided that Barry was either an incomplete man (due to his premature birth) or a hermaphrodite. Major D. R. McKinnon explained:

“it was none of my business whether Dr Barry was a male or a female, and that I thought that he might be neither, viz. an imperfectly developed man … my own impression was that Dr Barry was a Hermaphrodite. But whether Dr Barry was a male, female, or hermaphrodite I do not know, nor had I any purpose in making the discovery” Edward Bradford, who met Barry in 1832 in Jamaica, noted that he had a more feminine appearance but recorded his thoughts in a letter: “He was born prematurely and his mother died at birth. . . The stories which have circulated about him since his death are too absurd to be gravely refuted. There can be no doubt among those who knew him that his real physical condition was that of a male in whom sexual development had been arrested about the sixth month of foetal life”

Only hidden male gametes could explain Barry’s brains and behaviors. Gender was certainly not something that could be taught! It was inherent, and women were by gum the weaker sex. Ergo, Barry was some sort of tragically feminized dude. As for the idea that, as Sarah Bishop insisted, Barry had stretch-marks indicating a pregnancy … well, that was one of those stories too absurd to be gravely refuted. There was no way Barry could have been a fully biologically functioning female.

Women now account for just under half of all medical school graduates in the US, more than 50% in the UK, and almost 80% in Russia. Looks like the myth that women cannot be physicians has died, right? Well, except for articles written by self-declared feminist men — such as J. Meirion Thomas MD – who explains why having so many female doctors is bad because the silly bints start working part-time when they have kids or retire early.

Nothing about the claims that women don’t give the medical profession 110% is culturally driven, of course, or based on the myriad social expectations placed on women, you understand. Their ovaries make them do it and only the ones who promise, cross their hearts, to “lean in” should be allowed into med school. Even then, men should really be the first choice just in case the uterine-havers decide to use those wretched wombs anyway. If they do reproduce, the cows, then they’ll be punished by being pushed to become low-level unspecialized part-time GPs.

I wonder what Dr. James Barry would have to say about that?