For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts Advice to WomenFrom the bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed and a former editor in chief Mother Jones, this women's history classic brilliantly uncovers the constraints imposed on women in the name of science. Since the nineteenth century, professionals have been invoking scientific expertise to prescribe what women should do for their own good. Among the experts’ diagnoses and remedies: menstruation was an illness requiring seclusion; pregnancy, a disabling condition; and higher education, a threat to long-term health of the uterus. From clitoridectomies to tame women’s behavior in the nineteenth century to the censure of a generation of mothers as castrators in the 1950s, doctors have not hesitated to intervene in women’s sexual, emotional, and maternal lives. Even domesticity, the most popular prescription for a safe environment for women, spawned legions of “scientific” experts. Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English has never lost faith in science itself, but insist that we hold those who interpret it to higher standards. Women are entering the medical and scientific professions in greater numbers but as recent research shows, experts continue to use pseudoscience to tell women how to live. For Her Own Good provides today’s readers with an indispensable dose of informed skepticism. |
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Page 55
... Fanny Wright , “ is that the present is , evidently and openly and acknowl- edgedly , a war of class , and that this war is universal . . . . ” 28 It was easy to guess which side doctors would be on in the com- ing class war . The ...
... Fanny Wright , “ is that the present is , evidently and openly and acknowl- edgedly , a war of class , and that this war is universal . . . . ” 28 It was easy to guess which side doctors would be on in the com- ing class war . The ...
Page 57
... Fanny Wright . Fanny Wright was an outstanding intellectual leader of the work- ingmen's movement ; she was also a woman and a feminist . Her revolutionary vision was shockingly radical : not only must the “ par- asitic classes ” be ...
... Fanny Wright . Fanny Wright was an outstanding intellectual leader of the work- ingmen's movement ; she was also a woman and a feminist . Her revolutionary vision was shockingly radical : not only must the “ par- asitic classes ” be ...
Page 58
... Fanny Wright established a people's " Hall of Science " in the Bowery district of New York which offered , among many other services , public instruction in physiology . 36 While Fanny Wright was inciting people to think for themselves ...
... Fanny Wright established a people's " Hall of Science " in the Bowery district of New York which offered , among many other services , public instruction in physiology . 36 While Fanny Wright was inciting people to think for themselves ...
Contents
ONE In the Ruins of Patriarchy | 3 |
TWO Witches Healers and Gentleman Doctors | 37 |
The Witch Hunts The Conflict over Healing Comes to America | 65 |
Copyright | |
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For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts' Advice to Women Barbara Ehrenreich,Deirdre English No preview available - 1979 |
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