REST YOUR NERVES, DEAR
Yes, by 1899, science had a pretty good understanding of human anatomy. No, they didn’t know how all of the parts worked together…especially if they happened to be in a female body. So when Ella Shane’s physician, the very modern-minded Dr. Edith Silver, tells her to rest her nerves for a few days after a nasty shock in A FATAL FINALE, it’s actually more of an inside joke between them than anything else. Ella knows her doc is really just trying to get her to slow down for a day or two before her next arduous tour…and not really suggesting that she’s a poor delicate thing best confined to the fainting couch.
Far too many other doctors would have meant it seriously.
At the time, most of the medical thought about women came from men, because even though a growing number of women were fighting their way into the medical profession, they were still a tiny minority. And many of those women, like Dr. Silver, were far too busy doing good work with their patients to have time to write Important Thoughts, even assuming there was a journal that would accept them from a female. Bad enough that a few women somehow slipped through medical school…surely there’s no need to actually acknowledge their existence!
And the menfolk had a very specific view of women and their capabilities. Mainly that women were built to have children, and all of their “vital energies” should be focused and saved for the purpose. That’s how you get people (men) seriously suggesting that girls shouldn’t read for too long…and goofy things like the half-court basketball game that survived into the 1990s. That’s not a misprint – it’s the NINETEEN-nineties.
All in the name of energy conservation. A particular kind of energy conservation.
Women, the theory went, were delicate little bundles of nerves, who had to stay calm and rested so that they’d be ready for their real job: incubating the next generation. Even in 1899, some people – and not just female people – were starting to think that sounded like what Ella’s reporter pal Hetty would call “absolute hogwash.” If only because none of these alleged experts seemed to be too concerned about the fragile nerves of the women who cleaned their houses, watched their children and washed their linens.
And even in 1899, plenty of folks could tell that they were women too.
Still, there was no doubt that some of the ladies were prone to nerves and fainting. Or at least that some of the ladies seemed to be on the couch in a lace-trimmed heap rather frequently. We might suggest it was a gambit: using the only power they had to get what they wanted. But it certainly happened enough for most folks to have a clear picture of a dainty woman on her chaise, “resting her nerves,” or perhaps plotting her next move.
So really, when Dr. Silver tells Ella to rest her nerves, yes, it’s a little bit of a joke, but it’s a lot more whistling in the dark. They both know that the world, and many of the men in it, have a particular view of women and what they’re here for…and that Ella’s going to be out there fighting it again. Just as soon as she gets a good rest.
Far too many other doctors would have meant it seriously.
At the time, most of the medical thought about women came from men, because even though a growing number of women were fighting their way into the medical profession, they were still a tiny minority. And many of those women, like Dr. Silver, were far too busy doing good work with their patients to have time to write Important Thoughts, even assuming there was a journal that would accept them from a female. Bad enough that a few women somehow slipped through medical school…surely there’s no need to actually acknowledge their existence!
And the menfolk had a very specific view of women and their capabilities. Mainly that women were built to have children, and all of their “vital energies” should be focused and saved for the purpose. That’s how you get people (men) seriously suggesting that girls shouldn’t read for too long…and goofy things like the half-court basketball game that survived into the 1990s. That’s not a misprint – it’s the NINETEEN-nineties.
All in the name of energy conservation. A particular kind of energy conservation.
Women, the theory went, were delicate little bundles of nerves, who had to stay calm and rested so that they’d be ready for their real job: incubating the next generation. Even in 1899, some people – and not just female people – were starting to think that sounded like what Ella’s reporter pal Hetty would call “absolute hogwash.” If only because none of these alleged experts seemed to be too concerned about the fragile nerves of the women who cleaned their houses, watched their children and washed their linens.
And even in 1899, plenty of folks could tell that they were women too.
Still, there was no doubt that some of the ladies were prone to nerves and fainting. Or at least that some of the ladies seemed to be on the couch in a lace-trimmed heap rather frequently. We might suggest it was a gambit: using the only power they had to get what they wanted. But it certainly happened enough for most folks to have a clear picture of a dainty woman on her chaise, “resting her nerves,” or perhaps plotting her next move.
So really, when Dr. Silver tells Ella to rest her nerves, yes, it’s a little bit of a joke, but it’s a lot more whistling in the dark. They both know that the world, and many of the men in it, have a particular view of women and what they’re here for…and that Ella’s going to be out there fighting it again. Just as soon as she gets a good rest.
No comments have been added yet.
