The Female Mind in the Periodical Press: Henry Maudsley's 'Sex in Mind and in Education'
By the mid-1800s, the concept of the female mind as inferior and prone to nervous disease was well established in literature for a medical audience. However, in the second half of the century, discussion of women's madness in non-specialist periodicals both popularised and diversified views on...
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| Published in: | Victorian periodicals review 2020-09, Vol.53 (3), p.403-425 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | By the mid-1800s, the concept of the female mind as inferior and prone to nervous disease was well established in literature for a medical audience. However, in the second half of the century, discussion of women's madness in non-specialist periodicals both popularised and diversified views on the nature of the female brain. This essay investigates how the alienist Henry Maudsley inadvertently opened these clinical ideas to dispute by publishing his article "Sex in Mind and in Education" in the Fortnightly Review. Maudsley's controversial paper sparked a debate in the popular press that allowed ideas of the female mind to be refuted, expanded, and transformed by those outside the psycho-medical profession. |
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| ISSN: | 0709-4698 1712-526X 1712-526X |