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A review by nikkigee81
The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture 1830-1980 by Elaine Showalter
4.0
Lady time-travelers, take note - if you wish to set your TARDIS to the Victorian era (and why wouldn't you? It's quite fascinating), be quite careful not to raise suspicion. Especially if you are - not desiring of children, interested in politics or a job outside of the home, or enamoured of cuss words. Be prepared to make a quick exit if you are discovered, for it is quite possible that you would become a prisoner in a mental institution!
Facetiousness aside, this is a quite interesting and well-researched book. Ms. Showalter begins with the Victorian age and their ideas of "madness" as pertaining to women, which was basically anything that showed them to not fit the mold of "femininity" the menfolk had constructed. Hysteria and other "nerve disorders" were pretty much the hallmark of a weaker female system. There is also discussion of the first World War, where male soldiers were suddenly coming home in droves with the same symptoms of the supposed female malady. The book ends on the cusp of the 1970s, where treatment of females and mental illness was a bit better, but still seeming to be focused on the wrong things. I think today we still use ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) in certain circumstances.
Facetiousness aside, this is a quite interesting and well-researched book. Ms. Showalter begins with the Victorian age and their ideas of "madness" as pertaining to women, which was basically anything that showed them to not fit the mold of "femininity" the menfolk had constructed. Hysteria and other "nerve disorders" were pretty much the hallmark of a weaker female system. There is also discussion of the first World War, where male soldiers were suddenly coming home in droves with the same symptoms of the supposed female malady. The book ends on the cusp of the 1970s, where treatment of females and mental illness was a bit better, but still seeming to be focused on the wrong things. I think today we still use ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) in certain circumstances.