The Cure for Women: Victorian medicine and the challenging fight for change

The Cure for Women: Dr Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Challenge to Victorian Medicine that Changed Women’s Lives Forever by Lydia Reeder sets out to expose how Victorian male doctors used false science to argue that women were only fit to be wives and mothers and the bring to light the one doctor who proved them wrong. After Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate from medical school and practice medicine, more and more women came forward for the chance to study medicine. Barred from prestigious universities, these women built their own medical schools and hospitals. When their success was too large to ignore, a group of elite, white male doctors set out to shut them down and prove that a woman’s menstrual cycles make them unfit for college and professions. Enter Mary Putnam Jacobi, the daughter of New York publisher George Palmer Putnam, armed with a medical education from the Sorboone medical school, she conducts the first ever scientific research on women’s reproductive biology. Her results would open the door for women and their higher education futures. 

When I received the invitation to read an advanced copy of The Cure for Women, I was intrigued to be introduced to the pioneers of women who paved the way for future generations of women. Touted to expose “the birth of a sexist science that still haunting us today as the fight for control of women’s bodies and lives continues,” I knew I was in for a wild ride. However, I was bored. I feel it was more about Elizabeth Blackwell and her sisters than Mary Putnam Jacobi. The author also went off on too many tangents that I was lost. By the time that Mary Putnam Jacobi was the focus of the book, I didn’t care. Another turn off for me was the political stance. I was hoping to read a book about women fighting for their chance, instead it became a book about female superiority and the male fight to keep women down. Overall, I feel that this book did little to bring Mary Putnam Jacobi to light. I do not recommend The Cure for Women. 

The Cure for Women: Dr Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Challenge to Victorian Medicine that Changed Women’s Lives Forever is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook