Post #4 Interpretation

My interpretation and the most important message from the primary source is to inform all, especially women, that the clothing and activities that women partake in, along with the expectations that societies hold for women, do not allow for women to be healthy. In fact, women are far from healthy, and with the wardrobe fashion, women's bodies are becoming deformed, and they are passing these deformities on to their children. Of course, at some point in time, Catharine Beecher's warnings were heard and change was made on the wardrobe choices of women. However, at the time women were dressing in ways that brought on sickness and disease and deformities to their bodies. Women's shoulders and hips were being affected by corsets because corsets were bound so tightly around women's abdomens that it affected the rest of their body poorly. Because of women and others such as Catharine Beecher, changes were made, and now women are not expected to wear clothes that show off inappropriate parts of the body and cause illness when weather is cold. 



My thesis both agrees with and disagrees with what my secondary source said. My secondary source is a review on a book written to talk about Catharine Beecher's ideas on sex roles and social change. On one hand, the review goes to show that Catharine Beecher wanted to help others and help to exploit all of the problems that she was seeing, but at the same time, the secondary source went on to talk about how Catharine Beecher did not practice what she preached. Sex Roles and Social change suggested that Catharine Beecher was not as much of a help because she was not a good example. In fact, the review goes on to say that Catharine Beecher leaned greatly on men in her life, and was dependent on them for her success and health when times got hard. I do not so much agree with the secondary source that Catharine Beecher was not a help. It was because of her persistence that things were changed for women. I believe she was of great help and importance.

Most of my evidence is strictly what can be seen today. Women are clearly no longer forced to wear clothes that exploit their breasts and make them ill, and along with that, women no longer have to wear corsets that bind their middles so tight that it moves their organs around and makes it so that their shoulders and hips do not work as they should. Also, Catharine Beecher talks mainly about women's health in her letters. She talks about how many women are seen as unhealthy because of the things they are expected to do and the clothes they are expected to wear, even if it is detrimental to them. It is clear in Catharine Beecher's letters that women's health is her greatest worry.