Wendy’s first loves are social, cultural, gender, and medical history, which covers quite a lot. Her specific research areas play around with notions of masculinity, bodies, medical ethics, the construction of medical knowledge, with some interest in political issues. At the moment, she is thinking about the construction of the term disability within differing arenas. All of her work to date is based in modern Britain. She has strong connections with the Cornwall Disability Research Network. These are a truly interdisciplinary (academic and public membership) group who engage with Cornish disability issues as well as wider concerns.

Wendy’s interest in disability history burgeoned in a roundabout way. She was always interested in gender history and wanted to look at masculinity. By thinking about the relationship between masculinity and male bodies, disability history seemed like a perfect way to think about such connections. Since then, disability has become a lens through which to view the past.

Key interests: Masculinity, bodies, ethics, medical knowledge, and war.