Emma's departure--Menopause?
Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 1:53 pm
Kat pondered Emma's defection of Maplecroft in another thread and pointed out Emma's likely menopause as a possible reason for discord in the house. I think it is very interesting and decided to do some on line research.
Women faced such challenges when it came to their personal health. Menopause was a particularly hard time for them...
http://www.the-bms.org/journal/vol_5/dec_vol_5.htm
During the Victorian period leeching, cold baths and sedatives were prescribed for the menopause, and the importance of hygiene and moral management was emphasised. By the early twentieth century, ovarian extracts were also employed in clinical practice, although their efficacy was often disputed. The development of reproductive endocrinology in the 1920s led to the isolation of oestrogen, and hormonal preparations were soon developed for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Hormonal therapy receded in importance after the Second World War as psychoanalytic theory briefly replaced the hormonal paradigm as a tool for understanding the menopausal syndrome. In the 1960s, however, the psychoanalytic model was once again displaced by the growing importance of endocrinological explanations.
http://www.femone.com/CHW_3menomyths.aspx
The 1960s heralded a new era for the menopausal woman. No longer was the prevailing Victorian view of menopause, as a mysterious debilitating psychological condition, the vogue. Instead of treating women with a variety of mood-altering tranquilizers, shock treatment or, in some instances, institutionalization, the advent of steroid hormone drug therapy would elevate menopause into the realm of legitimate medical concerns. Menopause, a natural process, would become pathologized and medicalized as an estrogendeficient disease.
http://www.pww.org/article/articleprint/3950/
In Victorian days menopause was seen as a sign of sin and decay.
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femh ... ness.shtml
The idea of the Wondering Womb developed during this time, as madness was associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and the menopause. The womb itself was deemed to wander throughout the body, acting as an enormous sponge which sucked the life-energy or intellect from vulnerable women? (Ussher 74). Thus, women became synonymous with madness, as they were deemed to be emotional and unstable. If a woman of the Victorian era were subject to an outburst (due to discontentment or repression), she would be deemed mad. The word Hysteria became the general term for women with mental illness and cures included bed rest, seclusion, bland food, refrain from mental activities (such as reading), daily massage, and sensory depravation. Though these treatments do not seem too appalling, they were comparable to solitary confinement and would often drive a woman to further insanity
(The entire web page above is a fascinating read-- it details mental health treatments throughout the 1800's)
More from the above URL
Spinsters and lesbians were considered a threat to society during the nineteenth century as these women chose an alternative lifestyle. They went outside the social norms of women as passive housewives, and instead made their own decisions. They were thought to be mentally ill, as doctors claimed being without continued male interaction would cause irritability, anaemia, tiredness, and fussing. These women were also controlled by the term "frigid" which was used to describe them. Women did not want to be "frigid" and thus married to avoid becoming labeled this manner (Ussher 81). Those who were admitted to the asylum for being a spinster or a lesbian were submitted to forced marriages by family members or even encouraged sexual encounters where patients were sexually abused or raped under the care of their doctors (Ussher 81). It was assumed these women could be cured by repeated sexual interaction with men.
Women faced such challenges when it came to their personal health. Menopause was a particularly hard time for them...
http://www.the-bms.org/journal/vol_5/dec_vol_5.htm
During the Victorian period leeching, cold baths and sedatives were prescribed for the menopause, and the importance of hygiene and moral management was emphasised. By the early twentieth century, ovarian extracts were also employed in clinical practice, although their efficacy was often disputed. The development of reproductive endocrinology in the 1920s led to the isolation of oestrogen, and hormonal preparations were soon developed for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Hormonal therapy receded in importance after the Second World War as psychoanalytic theory briefly replaced the hormonal paradigm as a tool for understanding the menopausal syndrome. In the 1960s, however, the psychoanalytic model was once again displaced by the growing importance of endocrinological explanations.
http://www.femone.com/CHW_3menomyths.aspx
The 1960s heralded a new era for the menopausal woman. No longer was the prevailing Victorian view of menopause, as a mysterious debilitating psychological condition, the vogue. Instead of treating women with a variety of mood-altering tranquilizers, shock treatment or, in some instances, institutionalization, the advent of steroid hormone drug therapy would elevate menopause into the realm of legitimate medical concerns. Menopause, a natural process, would become pathologized and medicalized as an estrogendeficient disease.
http://www.pww.org/article/articleprint/3950/
In Victorian days menopause was seen as a sign of sin and decay.
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femh ... ness.shtml
The idea of the Wondering Womb developed during this time, as madness was associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and the menopause. The womb itself was deemed to wander throughout the body, acting as an enormous sponge which sucked the life-energy or intellect from vulnerable women? (Ussher 74). Thus, women became synonymous with madness, as they were deemed to be emotional and unstable. If a woman of the Victorian era were subject to an outburst (due to discontentment or repression), she would be deemed mad. The word Hysteria became the general term for women with mental illness and cures included bed rest, seclusion, bland food, refrain from mental activities (such as reading), daily massage, and sensory depravation. Though these treatments do not seem too appalling, they were comparable to solitary confinement and would often drive a woman to further insanity
(The entire web page above is a fascinating read-- it details mental health treatments throughout the 1800's)
More from the above URL
Spinsters and lesbians were considered a threat to society during the nineteenth century as these women chose an alternative lifestyle. They went outside the social norms of women as passive housewives, and instead made their own decisions. They were thought to be mentally ill, as doctors claimed being without continued male interaction would cause irritability, anaemia, tiredness, and fussing. These women were also controlled by the term "frigid" which was used to describe them. Women did not want to be "frigid" and thus married to avoid becoming labeled this manner (Ussher 81). Those who were admitted to the asylum for being a spinster or a lesbian were submitted to forced marriages by family members or even encouraged sexual encounters where patients were sexually abused or raped under the care of their doctors (Ussher 81). It was assumed these women could be cured by repeated sexual interaction with men.
