First published in 1978, this classic history, now revised and updated, brilliantly exposes the constraints imposed on women in the name of science...
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Jan 04, 2010
Ehrenreich put together a very comprehensive, well-researched book on the effect of "expert" advice on women over a two-hundred-year span. The chronicle is both hilarious and frightening. We see women being celebrated as frail, delicate creatures whose reproductive organs are the source of every illness... then later women are descended upon by psychologists and deemed too dangerous to run a family, having penis envy and ambition compelling them to kill their children. Mothers were con
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Sep 03, 2011
Rebecca
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For Her Own Good is a historical survey of the many ways in which women have been told what to do “for their own good” by experts (usually middle-class white men) over the past two hundred years. The book includes sections on medicine, female health and sickness, homemaking, and child-rearing, each one meticulously researched and extensively annotated. The authors' basic argument is that women have predominantly been viewed as incompetent to make their own decisions – even when it comes to their
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Dec 01, 2011
Mickey
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Ok, as if being a woman in this society didn't already make you angry at the medical establishment and how they treat women and women's concerns, this book will infuriate you. However, it is highly useful to see where these attitudes come from that are still prevalent in how medical professionals today treat women. From being dismissed as hysteric, to branding something a syndrome without ever trying to get to the bottom of it, to pathologizing the experience of being a woman.
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Dec 17, 2009
Seven
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gender roles are social constructs.
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Apr 12, 2010
Judy
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Finally!
Interesting history of the practice of medicine and treatment of women. As a result, "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Mrs. Dalloway" have new meaning.
I know why we were constantly have tea parties in home ec class and more understanding for the airs put on by my teacher.
I always thought Freud was twisted.
The end is - the woman question really is - that the human values that women were assigned to preserve expand out of the confi More...
Interesting history of the practice of medicine and treatment of women. As a result, "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Mrs. Dalloway" have new meaning.
I know why we were constantly have tea parties in home ec class and more understanding for the airs put on by my teacher.
I always thought Freud was twisted.
The end is - the woman question really is - that the human values that women were assigned to preserve expand out of the confi More...
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Jul 25, 2008
Kristen
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I absolutely loved Witches, Midwives and Nurses, so I thought this would be an expanded version of that. And it's true that For Her Own Good was full of interesting facts. But somehow, when I was done, I felt like I couldn't really summarize much of interest in a few words. In fact, I was quite relieved to be done so I could move on to some light fiction -- although the book was full of interesting, often shocking, facts, reading it almost felt like homework by the end.
I did dog-e More...
I did dog-e More...
Apr 26, 2010
Wealhtheow
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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 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 More...
For instance, the cultural ancestors of More...
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Oct 22, 2009
Jade
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I got most way through it, and I liked it, and some of it is a bore unless you are actually studying Women's Studies. You get a good amount of information out of it. I particularly liked how they describe the process of blooming medical world in the 1800's, and the degredation of women healers, and mid-wives. How the medical industry literally, made it illegal to mid-wife without a license, and since women couldn't go to medical school during that time, they couldn't get their licenses. The male
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Dec 11, 2009
Kate
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I enjoy Ehrenreich and her ideas about life and work. In this book she gives a research-filled history of how women were seen by medical doctors, psychologists, men, ad agencies, and employers. It's almost vulgar to think of of frailty and sickness were sought-after traits in an upper-class woman. It's fascinating to see how advice on things like femininity, child-bearing and child-rearing has changed. Expert "opinions" aimed at women have largely been based on false assumptions and qu
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Oct 15, 2010
Kyle
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If you can stick out 300+ pages of historical analysis and if you are interested in issues raised in women studies and feminism, "For Her Own Good" is for you. I especially recommend Chapter Seven "Motherhood as Pathology" because it comes closest to grasping the historical reversal and blurring of gender and family roles in U.S. In this chapter Ehrenreich and English discuss "Momism" and American masculinity in depth; I believe in post-industrial/post WWII U.S. thi
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Apr 03, 2011
Adrienne
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What an infuriating book! It was well-written and seemingly well-researched. The infuriation didn't come from the writing but by the crap that they unearthed and portrayed. The thesis of the book can be found in the afterward, essentially that the Women Question isn't what is wrong with us, or how should we deal with us/ourselves, but instead how can we change the society so the roles and norms for women don't constrain and appear to be so one-size fits all. What was interesting was that through
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Jul 09, 2010
Sally
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Although originally published in 1978, this remains an original and still timely examination of the role of women since the industrial/capitalism revolution and how the advise of scientific "experts" (mostly male) was instrumental in keeping women in their the socially acceptable place. The authors have a definite viewpoint, but their intellectual history is well done. The many quotes are of particular value, revealing starkly as they do the pageant of unfounded, and indeed often ludic
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Apr 23, 2011
Sam
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As always Ehrenreich's research is as thorough as her rather disturbing exploration of unspoken legacy in American society: the history of professionals deliberately trying to dictate the behavior of women.
It’s a heavy subject, and best digested in parts. But if you can follow her elegant--yet very clear--reasoning, you might never see the medical profession the same way again.
It’s a heavy subject, and best digested in parts. But if you can follow her elegant--yet very clear--reasoning, you might never see the medical profession the same way again.
Apr 21, 2010
ONTD
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LJ user pachakuti's review:
One of those books that puts into stark reality how patronizing and riddled with errors and judgement the 'advice' given to women over two centuries of American history has been. They look at the medical industry as a whole as well as psychology and child-rearing as a whole.
One of those books that puts into stark reality how patronizing and riddled with errors and judgement the 'advice' given to women over two centuries of American history has been. They look at the medical industry as a whole as well as psychology and child-rearing as a whole.
Apr 06, 2011
Roy
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Interesting look at male dominance (that includes oppression of course)over a centrury-plus. Some of the definitions and categories arae
flawed and over-baked. And there seems to be a reluctance to name Patriarchy for what it is as the corrupt root of "Western" culture.
I'm glad for the historical work which makes the book worth reading.
flawed and over-baked. And there seems to be a reluctance to name Patriarchy for what it is as the corrupt root of "Western" culture.
I'm glad for the historical work which makes the book worth reading.
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Jun 04, 2010
Paige
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OMG! Barbara Ehrenreich (and Dierdre English!!)!! If I had read this before Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, I don't know if I would have given that one 5 stars, knowing that you'd already done something like this! Excellent.
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Dec 21, 2009
Gina
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The style is very academic, with some occasional insertions of sly humor, but it does a great job of setting a context for many things that we take for granted. Important information if you are interested in women's issues.
Aug 17, 2011
an extremely boring read! It took me nearly all summer. But it did give some interesting ideas about the American history of the suppression of Women... which is why I kept on with it.
Jul 30, 2011
while I was reading this I kept wanting to pencil "YES!!" into the margins. but it was a library copy so I didn't. anyway, everyone ought to read this.
Nov 10, 2009
Maggie
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It was a little dry but reading some of the advice "experts" used to force on women was enraging. My first question for them would be "How long have you hated women?" Some of the advice from gynecologists from the 1950s and 60s is similar from what I have heard from one in the past 5 years. It's also the reason why I'm not her patient any more.
Jun 12, 2010
Suellen
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This was the first book I lead at Book Club. A reported from the newspaper was there to cover our book club. We were "alpha" on women's book clubs!
Aug 23, 2009
Jccannon1
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This is an amazing book, that every woman should read. It's full of the sort of tidbits that make you want to laugh, then sob.
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May 25, 2009
Bridgett
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History of women's medical issues and the ways in which women healers were consistently undermined by the medical profession.
Feb 22, 2010
Rose
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This book was written in the 1970s. Made me think about my upbringing and how history and my place in time has shaped who I am. The book reminds us that we do not exist in a vacuum.
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Apr 26, 2008
Anie
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For Her Own Good is an interesting tale: the evolution of the relationship of women and experts and all its twists, turns, and cul-de-sacs. It is difficult to imagine a more fraught relationship in our modern society, or one in which a party has been so manipulated, ill-treated, and generally oppressed. Although Ehrenreich is certainly biased, it seems understandable: any student of history can see the same anti-woman threads woven throughout, even without Ehrenreich's thorough treatment of them
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Oct 09, 2010
I couldn't handle this book. It was way too much like a text book. It took forever to get through pages. Although I really liked what I was reading and really learned a lot from it... I'll just have to pick this up again when there's absolutely nothing else going on in my life.
Dec 17, 2009
Robyn
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As many of the other reviewers mentioned... this book is outdated, but it is still a wonderful and fun (and frightening!) read. How can you resist a book with chapter headings like "The Dictatorship of the Ovaries" or that talks about "great uterine manifesto(s)" (127)? I learned so much! I didn't realize that my brain is completely controlled by my ovaries... as is my overall health for that matter. I also discovered that learning Greek might cause my uterus to atrophy. (128
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