Physical purity feminism and state medicine in late nineteenth-century england

Abstract

Late nineteenth-century England saw the development of a number ofcampaigns and social movements which were connected by both a hostilitytowards the medical profession and by the use of discourses of purityand sanitary reform. This article explores the involvement of womenwithin these movements, analysing their activism as an aspect of socialpurity feminism. It argues that many of these movements drew onwidespread female anxiety regarding male violence-both physical andsexual-towards women. The anti-medical feminists claimed that somepieces of `sanitary' legislation represented a state-sanctionedviolation of the bodies of women and children. Finally, this articleanalyses the use made, by some of these activists, of the discourses ofsanitary reform to challenge the gender ordering associated with thereason/nature dualism in Victorian society.