That phrase—“the spit and the speculum”—is striking and evocative, even without immediate context. It juxtaposes two very different kinds of bodily intrusion or examination: one organic, everyday, and oral (spit), the other clinical, gendered, and invasive (speculum).
That phrase—“the spit and the speculum”—is striking and evocative, even without immediate context. It juxtaposes two very different kinds of bodily intrusion or examination: one organic, everyday, and oral (spit), the other clinical, gendered, and invasive (speculum).