Mary E. Walker Article

Samwisep86

Corporal
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Location
Vicksburg, Mississippi
The New York Times Disunion column had an article today on Dr. Mary Edwards Walker. Link on the link below if you're interested:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/02/i-wear-my-own-clothes

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Yes, I'm just not sure how anyone at all could have been taken off the list- it seems so cavelier, here's a medal for something sterling you did then WHOOPS, never mind, we'd like it back, please. What if they reviewed the Purple Heart? Gee whiz, said well, you can't see where the wound is, or it wasn't THAT bad, how about a lavender one?

Mary seems to have shot herself in the foot a bit by being pushy, to say the least, so I go back and forth on her. I'll frequently go back to heck, she was a female doc when there were very few, kudos Mary. It was tough for females of the era to identify with her because of her insistance on wearing men's toggery- alienated so many, then it was easier for her enemies ( she had a ton ) to cut her from the pack, as it were. She had an independence of thought. however, disallowed herself the idea of buddying up to other females. My grgrandmother's twin sister was an early doc, I know Mary was an important role model for her, although she did not follow the whole man's dress thing. She really did have a very tough time of it in NYC, the male medical community disliked her fairly high profile in cases working for justice for poor females- she suffered for it greatly. never married, so of COURSE rumors followed her- in those days orientation other than straight was considered wierd in a lot of our society, not normal. She was not gay, just never found anyone who thought like herself, that's all.

She was hounded, after a great career- died almost penniless, records showed me why. She'd owned a couple blocks of property in NYC- a mysterious rumor arose, stating there was a Typhoid epidemic in those exact areas, people fled and would not return, rent or buy. There was no typhoid, and nore- because of her efforts as a doc, those areas had the lowest incidents of fever in the city for years in a row. She lost everything- then got cancer, died while still insisting to the courts that someone ( and she knew who ) had started this rumor to ruin her. It did.

Females in male occupations have had it tough- I'm frequently reminded of this when looking through my aunt's papers, and respect the stuffing out of her, and the women like her.Grateful to her, too, to all of them. Nobody tell me, it's still all that incredibly equal. Maybe in medicine, thanks goodness- other professions, no. Mary Walker was a tough person to like, a fame hunter in a ton of ways- but she was also out there, doing what women could not.
 
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