 Thus Sharp challenged and improved on the academic methods of trained male physicians with empirically based corrections from her practical experience, and created an accessible guide to women's anatomy that questioned the authority of academic knowledge.Sharp's book combines the medical knowledge of the time with personal anecdotes and argues that midwifery should be reserved for women, at a time when male midwives were becoming more common.She urged female midwives to learn surgical and pharmacological techniques instead of depending on male physicians when complications arose.