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.Y., and have been in the high estimation of the profession and the public so far as I am known, which a reference to Dr.L.A.Wolfe of N.Y.or Professor White of Buffalo will testify.The circumstances which calls forth this card [article] is certain false and slanderous remarks which have come to my ears from one calling himself a physician.The last I heard was a sarcastic remark that “he would like to see me in a difficult case of midwifery.”Now it is sympathy with my sex at the cruelties practiced on them by men in medical practice for want of knowledge in the profession, that chiefly induced me to remain here, and if that gentlemen or any other will be kind enough, to present me with a difficult case, I will attend it with a great deal of pleasure, that he and the public may form and estimate of my capacity.I have attended 2000 cases of midwifery, among which, I presume, I have had as difficult cases as have fallen to the share of any physician in the country, but how I performed my duties and with what results, I leave others and time in this country to testify; suffice it to say, I challenge any one or number of physicians to prove me inferior, in female practice, to any physician in California.My diploma can be seen at my residence, which will testify that in midwifery, medical operations, and the use of instruments in all forms required in medical practice, I have perfected my studies to the satisfaction and unanimous approbation of the whole board of professors.Medicines and supporting instruments of all kinds required by females to be had at my residence.THIS CONTROVERSIAL ADVERTISEMENT APPEARED IN MANY WOMEN’S MAGAZINES IN 1891.IT SHOWS THE PROGRESS WOMEN WERE MAKING IN MALE-DOMINATED FIELDS, INCLUDING THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.The doctor who impugned Elise’s reputation was unable to “prove her inferior” in female practice.He refrained from speaking out against Doctor Stone again.In time, women physicians would prove to rugged pioneers that they were fully capable.Their abilities eventually became so well respected that the arrivals of female doctors were listed in daily newspapers.However, the mention of their presence out West came with just as much insult to their “feminine” qualities as it did praise for their skills as physicians.An 1864 California newspaper article hinted that women physicians were essentially stripped of their “gentler qualifications” by virtue of their career choice:Among the arrivals in San Francisco by the last mail steamer was Miss Sarah Pellet, M.D., a graduate of Oberlin College, a regular educated physician, and an accepted lecturer upon “Women’s Rights” and kindred subjects.Miss Pellet is, we suppose, of the style of women denominated “strong minded,” and is said to possess a decidedly intellectual cast of thought.The recent Women’s Rights gatherings and conventions in the Atlantic cities have brought out a large number of the class spoken of, who are stumping it through the Atlantic towns and cities, detailing the real and imaginary wrongs of women, and proclaiming her inalienable right to drive omnibuses, command steamboats, preach, make laws and boots and horse shoes, and enter upon all the fields of life which have been heretofore monopolized by the sterner sex.These women (for they scorn the term “ladies”) are usually gifted with a greater degree of masculine intellect than the majority of their sex; while from their very appearance it will be at once seen that they are woefully lacking in those gentler qualifications which constituted the charm of “Heaven’s last, best gift to man.” The inculcation of their doctrines has only a mischievous tendency, and none for good; making a married man’s foes those of his own household, and setting up a claim for supremacy where, by the law of nature and of God, obedience is due.Sorry should we be to see the time when “strong minded” women shall take the place of those gentle beings who now, through the civilized world, sit like angels at the domestic hearth, calming the stronger passions of man, and pouring the healing balm of consolation into the wounds which hard rubbing with the world inflict upon those who are called to battle with it.In the beginning, the prejudice female doctors encountered was displayed by women as well as men.Many women felt they would be better served by male doctors, who were taken seriously as professionals.A female doctor, by contrast, was considered merely a healer—unable to determine what was really wrong with a patient.In hopes of dispelling that stereotype, women touted their expertise in a variety of publications.The following ad, for instance, appeared in a February 24, 1882, San Francisco newspaper:TO THE LADIES—MADAME COSTELLO, FEMALE PHYSICIAN, STILL CONTINUES TO TREAT, WITH ASTONISHING SUCCESS, ALL DISEASES PELICULAR TO FEMALES.SUPPRESSION, IRREGULARITY, OBSTRUCTION, ETC., BY WHATEVER CAUSE PRODUCED, CAN BE REMOVED BY MADAME C IN A VERY SHORT TIME.MADAME C’S MEDICAL ETABLISHMENT HAVING UNDERGONE THOROUGH REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS FOR THE BETTER ACCOMODATION OF HER NUMEROUS PATIENTS, SHE IS NOW PREPARED TO RECEIVE LADIES ON THE POINT CONFINEMENT, OR THOSE WHO WISH TO BE TREATED FOR OBSTRUCTION OF THEIR MONTHLY PERIODS.MADAME C CAN BE CONSULTED AT HER RESIDENCE, 34 LISPENARD STREET [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]