The Cure For Women

As well as taking an in-depth look at women's health during the Victorian Era, Lydia Reeder's The Cure For Women looks at their fight to enter the male-dominated medical field. This book was inspired by tape recordings of shared memories of five sisters, aged 72 to 89, of their mother, Ellen Babb. A practicing midwife and healer, Mrs. Babb cared for women and children in her rural Missouri community during the early 20th century. According to the author's research, women were barred from medical schools and most higher education until the end of the nineteenth century. During her research, she would learn about the early pioneers in medicine. Emily Blackwell, Ann Preston, and Marie Zakrzewska were a few of the female doctors.

In 1847, Emily Blackwell was admitted to Geneva Medical College after the student body jokingly voted to admit her. After voting, they realized it wasn't a joke and Emily would be enrolled. It was said that women of the day were to be: "...A proper lady did not lead an independent public life. Only poor and immigrant women who labored as servants, clerks, factory workers, or prostitutes were seen walking the streets. The refined upper-and middle-class women remained in the private sphere of home and hearth, cloistered and happy all their lives." Blackwell was the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree. Abolitionists, doctors, and philanthropists joined together with Ann Preston to demand more female doctors as too many women were suffering from disease. Women didn't want to compromise their virtue, purity, or expose their bodies to male physicians. Women died as a consequence of this. Preston believed that women were born to be physicians. Women cared for sick children, practiced midwifery, and treated their families' illnesses every day. Politics, harsh business dealings, and manual labor were seen as masculine roles by Preston. In terms of women and children's health, women were best equipped to take care of them.

By accident, J. Marion Sims became a woman's doctor. He is the inventor of the speculum. As far as I am concerned, that is the only thing I find positive about him. Women of the day suffered from rectovaginal fistulas, tears that extended from the rectum to the vagina. In many cases, this occurs during childbirth. Between 1845 and 1849, Dr. Sims performed experimental operations on enslaved women without their consent and without anesthesia. During hours-long operations, he would have men hold them in place while he operated and mutated them. Among them, some lived and some died. Having perfected his technique, he began performing the procedure on white women under anesthesia. However, Sims continued to operate on poor white women without anesthesia in a circus-like fashion.

When it came to women's reproductive health, Mary Putnam Jacobi was a pioneer. Her findings were published in medical journals and she won accolades. It didn't stop her male colleagues from citing her work and publishing it as their own. The study of menstrual waves proved to be a case in point. As Jacobi became intimately familiar with the anatomy of women, she used her imagination to envision possible physical causes of her patients' illness. It was her ability to conceptualize an accurate diagnosis and formulate a cure that led to her curing the most puzzling cases.

Above are only a few sobering glimpses into Victorian health that 'The Cure For Women' covers. The health concerns of women were not only not taken seriously, but so many suffered and died as a result. A prohibition on women studying in the medical sciences prevented them from getting an education. While studying medicine, women faced issues such as a lack of quality education and harassment.

The Cure for Women is an eye-opening book about the unjust treatment of women during the Victorian era regarding their health and career choices. It is a very well-written and well-researched book. The author deserves praise for not holding back. This book is highly recommended.