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John (bird whisperer)
John (bird whisperer)
mohandasgandhi: thedailyfeed: Scary but true: There was a time when people thought education “diverted women’s finite supply of energy from the female reproductive organs to the brain.” The second half of the 19th century witnessed a broad movement to provide higher education to women; by 1890, 63 percent of the 1,082 colleges in the country... - http://dendroica.tumblr.com/post...
mohandasgandhi: thedailyfeed: Scary but true: There was a time when people thought education “diverted women’s finite supply of energy from the female reproductive organs to the brain.” The second half of the 19th century witnessed a broad movement to provide higher education to women; by 1890, 63 percent of the 1,082 colleges in the country admitted women. Meanwhile, opponents warned that higher ed encouraged independence in women and threatened marriage and the family. Professor Virginia G. Drachman explains this fascinating history: The man most responsible for popularizing this view was Dr. Edward H. Clarke, a professor at Harvard Medical College. In 1873, Clarke published “Sex in Education, or, A Fair Chance for the Girls” to explain to the general reader the dangers of higher education to women’s health. Based on the prevailing theory of conservation of energy, that the sum of all energy in the body is constant, Clarke warned that excessive study diverted women’s finite supply of energy from the female reproductive organs to the brain. The consequence was a breakdown in women’s health, specifically in their reproductive organs, which ultimately threatened the health of future generations. Clarke warned young women contemplating college to avoid intellectual strain at least one week every month. Young women ignoring his advice by studying “every day of the school year, just as boys do,” risked a panoply of ailments, from painful menstruation and general weakness to hysteria, sterility and even death. If we had had the technology, I wouldn’t have been surprised if trading stations were set up in which women could exchange their eggs for books to, you know, just speed up the process.
April 24, 2012 from Tumblr - Comment - Share