Tokology A Book for Every Woman

by Alice Bunker Stockham

1891. Victorian reformer Alice Bunker Stockham was an Ob-Gyn from Chicago, and the fifth woman to be made a doctor in the United States. She lectured against the use of corsets by women, made public endorsements of the healthiness of masturbation for both men and women (If God did not want you to experience these beautiful feelings, he would not have given you the ability to experience them or the desire to produce them), advocated complete abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and believed in women's rights. Her book, Tokology (the Greek word for obstetrics), is a layperson's text on gynecology and midwifery. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1893

About the author

Alice Bunker Stockham (November 8, 1833 in Cardington, Ohio – December 3, 1912 in Alhambra, California) was an obstetrician and gynecologist from Chicago and the fifth woman to become a doctor in the United States. She promoted gender equality, dress reform, birth control, and male and female sexual fulfillment for successful marriages.

A well-traveled and well-read person who counted among her friends Leo Tolstoy and Havelock Ellis, she also visited Sweden and from her trips to schools there she brought back the idea of teaching children domestic crafts, thus single-handedly establishing shop and home economics classes in the United States.

Stockham lectured against the use of corsets by women, made public endorsements of the healthiness of masturbation for both men and women (still controversial when echoed by U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders more than 100 years later), advocated complete abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and believed in women's rights.

Stockham was very concerned with the economic plight of divorced women with children and prostitutes who wanted to get off the street. She felt that these women had no marketable skills and would be unable to support themselves, so she had copies of her book Tokology, a layperson's guide to gynecology and midwifery, privately printed and gave them to "unfortunate women" to sell door-to-door in Chicago. Each copy came with a bound-in certificate signed by Stockham and entitling the bearer to a free gynecological exam.

Reviews

[notgettingenough]

This amazing woman is totally coming to my dinner party....

http://pioneerbooks.wordpress.com/201...

[dejah_thoris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the revised edition published in 1890. I bought it for $15 because I liked the blind tooling on the cover. Most of the health advice is consistent with what we know about pregnancy and childbirth today. There's useful advice on diet, exercise, dress reform, and marital relations. (I might try the stretching exercises and some of the recipes later.)

This book also provided the simplest and best explanation for life beginning at conception. (I am still pro-choice, however, because I don't agree with legislation restricting such decisions.) Excluding the supernatural, matter has two states: alive or not alive. If the embryo is not alive then the body would reject it as foreign material instead of nourishing it and allowing it to grow. Hard to argue with that logic (though I am sure someone will try).