Florian Grafl, Marie Luise Raap-Werner
Most young women were isolated in observation and classification centres because they did not conform to the traditional Catholic ideal of womanhood. Medical expertise was not used primarily to diagnose disease but to translate moral deviance into apparently objective medical knowledge, thereby legitimising the internment and re-education of young women through politicised medicine.
BACKGROUND: At the beginning of Franco's dictatorship in Spain, the state Catholic organisation Patronato de Protección a la Mujer (Patronage for the Protection of Women) was created with the aim of disciplining young women who did not conform to the social norms of the regime. Adolescents under the guidance of the Patronato were admitted to Centros de Observación y Clasificación (observation and classification centres). This study analysed the observation and classification centres in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville and investigated the extent to which the medical examinations conducted in these centres constituted politicised medicine.
METHODS: Published and unpublished documents from the Patronato's headquarters in Madrid along with its provincial boards in Seville and Barcelona were examined. These sources can be found in the Historical Archive of Seville, the National Catalan Archive in Sant Cugat de Vallès and in the Archive of the Subdelegation of the Spanish Government in Barcelona. The historical-critical method was used to examine these sources.
RESULTS: The observation and classification centres studied in this paper were similar in terms of their organisation and procedures. The medical staff consisted of a general practitioner, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a venereologist and a nurse. Young women admitted to the Patronato by the authorities were initially isolated there for several weeks. Psychiatric and venereological examinations determined whether they were pregnant, infected with a venereal disease or diagnosed with a mental disorder.
CONCLUSION: Most young women were isolated in observation and classification centres because they did not conform to the traditional Catholic ideal of womanhood. Medical expertise was not used primarily to diagnose disease but to translate moral deviance into apparently objective medical knowledge, thereby legitimising the internment and re-education of young women through politicised medicine.