Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York : Anchor Books, 1989, c1978.
Description
From the Publisher: A provocative new perspective on female history, the history of American medicine and psychology, and the history of child-rearing unlike any other.
User reviews
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
Ehrenreich and English look at what kind of advice we've been given for the last two hundred years. Although they provide a good deal of social, political, economic, and general background to the development and evolution of experts, the part I found most fascinating was on the creation of what we
For instance, the cultural ancestors of modern doctors were just dudes who had enough money and class status to go to university and learn classical languages. They never learned anatomy or how to treat illnesses in any evidence-based manner. In fact, to maintain their status as "gentlemen," they didn't touch their patients (instead leaving the dispensing of medicines, bone-setting, childbirth, etc to others) or receive payment for their services (they were instead given "gifts"). But given that their medical knowledge was entirely based in classical literature, they were not particularly helpful. Instead, most people used what we now term folk-medicine (practiced by a healer in their area), which *was* mostly evidence-based and very much in line with modern conceptions of medicine (understandings of anatomy, palpating the lymph nodes, knowing what the patient ate, what their stools looked like, etc). But "regular" doctors had the rich on their side, so when science and the scientific method began to gain credence, they were able to lay claim to science first, while simultaneously suing to have all doctors who didn't go to their specific universities be considered criminals if they practiced medicine. It worked! Oh classism. And thus, for the next hundred years or so, the UK and US were left with doctors who had a very narrow understanding of what to look for to judge health. Mental state, nutrition, environment...all of this fell by the way-side.
Ehrenreich and English also talk a bit about how various credentials came to be and the double-binds created by psychologists for women. And don't think women were martyred saints, either--white, middle and upper class women were instrumental in all sorts of bs movements to "improve" the poor and minority groups. Overall, a good read, with nuggets of biting sarcasm to match the facts and anecdotes.
Show More
consider medical doctors. I hadn't realized how culturally specific, oft-changing, and purposefully created our modern conception of medicine is. For instance, the cultural ancestors of modern doctors were just dudes who had enough money and class status to go to university and learn classical languages. They never learned anatomy or how to treat illnesses in any evidence-based manner. In fact, to maintain their status as "gentlemen," they didn't touch their patients (instead leaving the dispensing of medicines, bone-setting, childbirth, etc to others) or receive payment for their services (they were instead given "gifts"). But given that their medical knowledge was entirely based in classical literature, they were not particularly helpful. Instead, most people used what we now term folk-medicine (practiced by a healer in their area), which *was* mostly evidence-based and very much in line with modern conceptions of medicine (understandings of anatomy, palpating the lymph nodes, knowing what the patient ate, what their stools looked like, etc). But "regular" doctors had the rich on their side, so when science and the scientific method began to gain credence, they were able to lay claim to science first, while simultaneously suing to have all doctors who didn't go to their specific universities be considered criminals if they practiced medicine. It worked! Oh classism. And thus, for the next hundred years or so, the UK and US were left with doctors who had a very narrow understanding of what to look for to judge health. Mental state, nutrition, environment...all of this fell by the way-side.
Ehrenreich and English also talk a bit about how various credentials came to be and the double-binds created by psychologists for women. And don't think women were martyred saints, either--white, middle and upper class women were instrumental in all sorts of bs movements to "improve" the poor and minority groups. Overall, a good read, with nuggets of biting sarcasm to match the facts and anecdotes.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Meggo
This is not as enjoyable a book as Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed in America", but it did sneak up on me as I read it. The general theme is that for the past 100 years women have been getting good advice from people who truly do not have their best interests at heart. Reading this book did not turn
Show More
me into a bitter, cynical crone, but it easily could have. Overall, an interesting read, if disillusioning. Show Less
LibraryThing member krasiviye.slova
An interesting work of deconstruction, Ehrenreich and English sketch the rise of the "scientific" expert in American society and trace the history of the advice these experts have given women on how to be women. The authors find the problem is the unwilligness people to question the structure of
I feel that the authors passed over the role religion and the religious "experts" have played in doling out advice to women that has trapped them in a false dichotomy between sacrificing themselves to create an oasis or giving up on morals and ethics to assimilate to the outside world. In the epilogue they touched briefly on how the neo-romantics (Phyllis Schafly, Focus on the Family, and company) have relied upon religion rather than science to justify a binary division of the genders into private women and public men. This is different from the romanticism of the previous eras which used science to add legitimacy to demand that women stay barefoot and pregnant in their kitchens. They also touch briefly on the model for God adopted by the neo-romantics, "a God who has made his peace with the consumer society" (320). Religion is a powerful force in any society, either for good or ill. Unfortunately, in America at the moment, it appears that Christianity's public image has been hijacked by people who are using it for ill.
Reconstruction is where this book, as do many in the area, falls short. Ehrenreich and English fail to offer up much in the way of a plan of action. The authors offer little in the way of suggestions as to exactly how society should begin to address the problems created by a marketplace mentality in which human beings are reduced to cogs in an assembly line. There's a clear and convincing argument that humans much change the system, but not a plan of how to change the system or even a particularly detailed vision of what the institutional structures should look like. (There's a newer edition out as of 2005, they may have added something to this effect.)
Show More
society and relying on a false binary between the choices of assimilating to the norms of the culture or adjusting to life in the margins. Of course, being a theology geek, I immediately thought: well, here's a place a hearty dose of the Jesus Movement (and I'm thinking of holy vagrants, not the pseudo-Paul) could be useful.I feel that the authors passed over the role religion and the religious "experts" have played in doling out advice to women that has trapped them in a false dichotomy between sacrificing themselves to create an oasis or giving up on morals and ethics to assimilate to the outside world. In the epilogue they touched briefly on how the neo-romantics (Phyllis Schafly, Focus on the Family, and company) have relied upon religion rather than science to justify a binary division of the genders into private women and public men. This is different from the romanticism of the previous eras which used science to add legitimacy to demand that women stay barefoot and pregnant in their kitchens. They also touch briefly on the model for God adopted by the neo-romantics, "a God who has made his peace with the consumer society" (320). Religion is a powerful force in any society, either for good or ill. Unfortunately, in America at the moment, it appears that Christianity's public image has been hijacked by people who are using it for ill.
Reconstruction is where this book, as do many in the area, falls short. Ehrenreich and English fail to offer up much in the way of a plan of action. The authors offer little in the way of suggestions as to exactly how society should begin to address the problems created by a marketplace mentality in which human beings are reduced to cogs in an assembly line. There's a clear and convincing argument that humans much change the system, but not a plan of how to change the system or even a particularly detailed vision of what the institutional structures should look like. (There's a newer edition out as of 2005, they may have added something to this effect.)
Show Less
LibraryThing member bnbooklady
This exploration of the ways in which medicine and science (and more recently, consumer science) have stereotyped and targeted women is interesting and edifying despite its density. I enjoyed the read, but it did not live up to my expectations, given that Ehrenreich's other books are highly
Show More
readable and virtually impossible to put down. Though this was much more of a text book than I'd hoped or anticipated, it was insightful and eye-opening, and it should be a must-read for modern women. Show Less
LibraryThing member bean-sidhe
Read this book!!! If you are even thinking about it then it will interest you enough to be a phenomenal experience. Ms. Ehrenreich and Ms. English have written a compelling, eloquent, and, perceptive history of modern "Medicine" with special interest in its treatment of women. Not only will this
Show More
satisfy your craving for good writing but it will change your perspective on the science of medicine. Show Less
LibraryThing member SparklieSunShine
Sooo good. I would recommend this to anyone. I think it’s important as well as interesting. I am also a history junkie. So I love it on that level as well. I will say though, it is a bit dry in spots so it may take a chapter or two to get into.
LibraryThing member paisley1974
I can only read so much of this at a time, until I get too mad, and have to put it done. It's well done!
LibraryThing member apartmentcarpet
For two centuries, doctors, psychiatrists, scientists, and politicians have been telling women what to do. Ehrenreich spins a delightful history that encompasses the trends in contraception, child rearing, marriage, and a woman's role in society. I was alternately outraged and amused, but never
Show More
bored. Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
This book examines how experts, mostly male, (from medicine to consumer science) have studied, judged and prescribed all aspects of women's lives...from marriage to child rearing to every aspect of a woman's role in society.
It's a thorough, highly readable, analysis. Reading this gave me a deeper
It's a thorough, highly readable, analysis. Reading this gave me a deeper
Show More
understanding of how socio-economic changes affected both men and women, and how the "Women's Lib" movement came to be, in many ways, inevitable. Show Less
LibraryThing member amaraduende
I should have paid more attention to the author and less to the title. Here I was, expecting gems like "make him his favorite dinner on Fridays to celebrate, never Mondays, else he'll wonder what you're atoning for" or "never paint your toenails anything other than pink or cream before marriage. or
Show More
after" or some other inane, giggle-worthy things. But oh, Barbara, I didn't notice you there. Wait, why are you filling my nice funny old-fashioned book with horrible facts about social movements that piss me off? Show Less
LibraryThing member Devil_llama
A history of how the status of women has changed since the Industrial Revolution, when the modern gender roles were delineated based on the new divisions of labor. Very well researched, and well written, it suffers quite a bit, especially in early chapters, from a suspension of skepticism in the
Show More
face of "woman's" medicine - the various herbals and potions that were used before the birth of modern medicine. There is a great deal of accuracy in the description of the failure of medicine at that time, but the presentation of these other methods as effective is perhaps a bit credulous. Otherwise, a very solid work by a writer with a sense of irony. Show Less
LibraryThing member thornton37814
I really did not enjoy this book with a very left feminist point of view that much. The one chapter I enjoyed somewhat focused on women who practiced medicine in the 19th century, mostly without formal training and a license. Other chapters focused on the invention of "housework" and on child
Show More
rearing, particular focusing on Dr. Spock's advice. I do not recommend this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Co-authors Ehrenreich and English trace two centuries of women’s history from the industrial revolution into the 1970s. A 2004 epilogue extends the history into the early 21st century. Ehrenreich and English are critical of the growth and influence of scientific experts who proffered advice to
Show More
women (mostly middle-class) on how to live. The goal posts continually moved so that each succeeding generation of “experts” corrected the “advice” of the preceding generation. The Secret History of Home Economics covers some of the same ground in a much more engaging manner. Show Less
LibraryThing member scottjpearson
Igrew up in a conservative home in a conservative state with a religion that enshrined conservatism more than Christianity. Fortunately, I was allowed to read, and reading has become a salvation of sorts. As I’ve aged and expanded my horizons, I’ve nonetheless grown concerned that I might have
Throughout history, women have been told who to be much more than they’ve been empowered to do the telling. When they’ve held leadership roles, their audiences are often limited to other women and children. Sometimes, the “children” part is even limited just to girls. The role of an “expert” has often functioned to put women in a box, not of their own making. Experts, however, changed their advice over time. This confusion often obscured rather than helped.
Things were not always so. Before the industrial revolution, women used to play a recognized, necessary role in an agrarian society. After industrial workplaces took root, it became hard to put women into a society organized around male work. Women were always put in a place, though this place tended to change with time. In this book, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English document how experts came to rule the roost, so to speak, of womankind and how women eventually rebelled to find their own perspectives after the twentieth century’s feminism.
It’s been almost two decades since this revised edition has been published. Personally, I’ve grown more awake to the contributions of women around me. American culture seems even more entrenched in culture wars, to the point of empowering anti-feminists, seemingly just for effect. This book remains important to remind us of where we’ve come from. Humanity need not suffer endless wars over how much to restrict people from choosing, and people can have real choices without destroying society. Centralized experts do not know everything. This book contributes a reasoned explanation for these feminist views and empowers readers to choose for themselves.
Show More
picked up some bad habits along the way. I’m recognized as an expert in my field, but I strive not to be one that oppresses others. Instead, I seek to empower others, and that includes women. Thus, I picked up this book, now in a revised edition supplanting its classic in the late 1970s.Throughout history, women have been told who to be much more than they’ve been empowered to do the telling. When they’ve held leadership roles, their audiences are often limited to other women and children. Sometimes, the “children” part is even limited just to girls. The role of an “expert” has often functioned to put women in a box, not of their own making. Experts, however, changed their advice over time. This confusion often obscured rather than helped.
Things were not always so. Before the industrial revolution, women used to play a recognized, necessary role in an agrarian society. After industrial workplaces took root, it became hard to put women into a society organized around male work. Women were always put in a place, though this place tended to change with time. In this book, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English document how experts came to rule the roost, so to speak, of womankind and how women eventually rebelled to find their own perspectives after the twentieth century’s feminism.
It’s been almost two decades since this revised edition has been published. Personally, I’ve grown more awake to the contributions of women around me. American culture seems even more entrenched in culture wars, to the point of empowering anti-feminists, seemingly just for effect. This book remains important to remind us of where we’ve come from. Humanity need not suffer endless wars over how much to restrict people from choosing, and people can have real choices without destroying society. Centralized experts do not know everything. This book contributes a reasoned explanation for these feminist views and empowers readers to choose for themselves.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Physical description
xiv, 369 p.; 21 cm
ISBN
0385126514 / 9780385126519
Local notes
History
Other editions
Similar in this library
Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness (Glass Mountain Pamphlet) by Barbara Ehrenreich
Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers (Glass Mountain Pamphlets) by Barbara Ehrenreich
Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Womens Liberation Movement by Robin Morgan
Our Bodies Ourselves For The New Century (A Touchstone book) by Boston Women's Health Book Collective
The Second Sex: The Classic Manifesto of the Liberated Woman (Vintage Books, No. 227) by Simone de Beauvoir
The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-seventy (Women and History 2) by Gerda Lerner