Feminism in Literature | Women in the 19th Century - Barbara Ehrenreich And Deirdre English (Essay Date 1978)

BARBARA EHRENREICH AND DEIRDRE ENGLISH (ESSAY DATE 1978)

SOURCE: Ehrenreich, Barbara and Deirdre English. “The Sexual Politics of Sickness.” In For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts’ Advice to Women, pp. 101-09. New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1978.

In the following excerpt, Ehrenreich and English argue that many of the illnesses routinely affecting women during the nineteenth century were most likely manifestations of their gender subjugation, their feelings of powerlessness, and their unrealistic domestic roles.

When Charlotte Perkins Gilman collapsed with a “nervous disorder,” the physician she sought out for help was Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, “the greatest nerve specialist in the country.” It was Dr. Mitchell—female specialist, part-time novelist, and member of Philadelphia’s high society—who had once screened Osler for a faculty position, and, finding him appropriately...

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