Women Write for Rights

1. Women Write for Rights 1800s- present

2. Document 1 What were women’s legal rights in the US prior to the first movements?

3. Document Checklist

4. Why is reform important for a country where “all men are created equal”?

5. Document 2 & 3

6. Document Checklist

7. Women’s Medicine as women write What roll did medical diagnosis play in the push for equal rights?

8. Symptoms leading to diagnosis included- faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, and a “tendency to cause trouble” • Treatments included extreme bed rest and sometimes a “pelvic massage.” The Myth of “Female Hysteria”

9. The history of diagnoses of hysteria can be traced to ancient times. • An ancient Greek myth tells of the uterus wandering throughout the woman’s body, strangling her as it reaches the chest, causing women to act unpredictably. • In medieval times hysteria was believed to be a disease of sexually deprived, passionate women. Treatment was sex if married and marriage if single. Early History of Hysteria

10. Introduced the “rest cure” for nervous ailments, especially hysteria. • The rest cure included: isolation, confinement to bed, dieting, and massage S. Weir Mitchell: expert on nervous conditions What problems might arise from such a cure?

11. Practically imprisoned women for up to two months • Minimal contact with the outside world. • No engagement of the mind • No performing small activities • Hand fed • Restrained in bed The Infamous Rest Cure

12. Often, according to Mitchell’s writing on the rest cure in his treatise Fat and Blood, by the fifth or sixth day of treatment, most women became “tractable,” and did not resist the imposed monotony. This statement suggests that many women fought this treatment during initial days of imprisonment but ultimately gave up. • Since husbands frequently were allowed to make decisions regarding their wives, the perception of the husband could determine whether a woman would endure or continue to endure a rest cure. • Thus, often the only “escape” from the rest cure was full cooperation. The Rest Cure (cont.)

13. This condition was discredited by the 1920’s and is no longer acknowledged as existing. So, if Hysteria isn’t an actual disease…what was really wrong with these women? Hysteria

14. Symptoms leading to diagnosis included- faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, and a “tendency to cause trouble” The Myth of “Female Hysteria”

15. Many of the women were most likely afflicted by general depression, anxiety, stress, dissatisfaction, or postpartum depression • Some women simply asserted their opinions too much and a diagnosis of hysteria was a way for husbands to regain control Reality Check

16. Are female hysteria and the rest cure clear abusive signs of a patriarchal culture?

17. S. Weir Mitchell: expert on nervous conditions Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Doctor

18. The Yellow Wallpaper

19. A doctor in 1859 claimed that 25% of all women suffer from hysteria. • One doctor compiled 75 pages of symptoms of hysteria and called the list “incomplete”. • Doctors around the world believed that hysteria was a direct result of stresses associated with modern life. • Treatment of hysteria was very profitable: there was no risk of death and treatment could go on indefinitely During Gilman’s Era

20. Are female hysteria and the rest cure clear abusive signs of a patriarchal culture?

21. Author PurposeTone

22. Kate Chopin Women’s Activist “The Story of an Hour”

23. Husband died young, leaving her to raise 6 children on her own • Ran plantation by herself for many years, then sold out and moved in with her mother • When her mother died a few years later, she fell into a deep depression. • Encouraged by her family doctor, she began to write as a way to encourage better emotional health Troubled life

24. Story: connotations? • Hour: time frame/setting • Phonetically hour/our: connotations? “The Story of an Hour”

25. Protagonist vs. self • Internal • Conscience and dealing with her husband’s death Conflict

26. Double meaning: “heart trouble”:: physical ailment and trouble in her relationship • Par. 5 “twittering” “aquiver with life” “Delicious breath” “crying (double meaning) his wares” all add to the tone. Not sadness as you would expect, but expectant, ironic, and even giddy • Par. 11 she feels free not hemmed in—keen and bright almost vibrant • Par. 12 “Monstrous Joy” bigger than life, makes you wonder what made her life so terrible in the first place. Diction and Word Choice

27. Situational Irony • Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death • Verbal Irony • “of joy that kills” • Dramatic Irony • Mrs. Mallard’s cause of death • Climax • Mr. Mallard’s return—irony? Irony

28. weather and season: spring=life but the story is about death (irony) • briefcase=gripsack: gripping on to the wife and not letting go • going up she’s feeling heavy with guilt, coming down she feels lighter as if she’s leaving things behind Symbolism

29. The wrongfulness and weakening power that emerges with the repression of women (or any group) and how wrong and damaging it can be. Theme

30. 1-4; 7; 9-14 done for your poop sheet When you are done you should have…

31. So, what to do next? Assert yourself for rights

32. Document 4

33. Document Checklist

34. “Votes for Women” Mary Poppins 1964

35. What is the irony in the song? Why is “1964” significant?

36. The Awakening (1899)—a psychological account of a woman’s search for independence and fulfillment. Because the novel explored the issue of infidelity, it aroused a storm of protest. • severely attacked by critics and eventually banned. • Resurrected in the 1950s (2nd wave of feminism) • Today, the book is among the five most-read American novels in colleges and universities. Scandal: Chopin

37. Allusion: An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. • Paradox: a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true. Satirical poem

38. The Paradox of Women’s Lib The idea of Women’s lib is to free women Freed women, however, became slaves to the battle for freedom.

39. Document 5 Document 5

40. Document Checklist

41. The Paradox of Women’s Lib The idea of Women’s lib is to equalize women After, however, women who chose to remain in the home were often considered inferior to working women.

42. Is an egalitarian world possible?