By the end of the Victorian age, men had dominated medical practice for centuries, but women were beginning to make inroads into the profession. A few, Mary Putnam Jacobi being the first, made inroads in European training centers and returned to the US to integrate women into American medicine. In this book, Lydia Reeder narrates their struggle and eventual victory that depathologized being a woman. By pursuing their personal questions, these women physician-scientists brought obstetrics and gynecology towards a more scientific basis.
Mary Putnam Jacobi was the first female graduate of the Sorbonne medical school in Paris and had a world-class intellect that impressed the greatest of her era, including William Osler. The first female winner of Harvard’s Boylston Prize, she demythologized menstruation and showed it should not be an obstacle to women’s accomplishments. Throughout her barrier-breaking career, she became rich, famous, and influential.
Besides the nobility of Putnam Jacobi’s character, this book is worth reading just to laugh at the masculine misunderstandings of femininity. So much prejudiced dominated the Victorian era, and those false understandings, though less muted, can still influence contemporary discourse – like the idea that women only need to rest during menstruation or that women are more innately prone to worse mental health.
I love reading about how paradigms shift in science and medicine, and Putnam Jacobi and her contemporaries certainly enacted that shift in women’s health. Their impact eventually spanned into the political arena and women’s suffrage. They faced setbacks and struggles, but persevered to overcome false opposition. It’s funny how truth stands the test of time and further investigation better than quackery, no? I appreciate the author’s educating me about this story of how women bettered their own lot by challenging hubris and tradition with deep science.
The Cure for Women: Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Challenge to Victorian Medicine That Changed Women’s Lives Forever
By Lydia Reeder
Narrated by Sara Sheckells
Text copyright (c) 2024
St. Martin’s Press
Audio copyright (c) 2024
Dreamscape Media
ASIN B0DG35FDKX
Length: 14:09
Genre: Medicine, Society
www.amazon.com