Clelia Mosher

During the 20th century, society believed there to be a defined difference in character among men and women. Women were viewed simply as passive wives and mothers, while men were viewed as individuals with many different roles and opportunities. For women, education was not expected past a certain point, and those who pushed the limits were looked down on for their ambition. Marriage was anabsolute necessity, and a career that surpassed any duties as housewifes was practically unheard of. Clelia Mosher, a female author of the time, lived and wrote within this particular period. Many of her studies centered on women, of that era. She focused more on the hygienic role other than any other factor. Mosher focused on writing and studying on sexual habits in women during that era.
CleliaMosher was born in Albany, New York in 1863. Clelia graduated from the Albany Female Academy in 1881 when she was eleven years old. After her graduation from The Albany Female Academy, she wanted to continue here studies and plan to attend college, but her Father Dr. Mosher believed that, it was the right time and neither less it was not normal for women to attend college during that time. Therefore,her father established a greenhouse behind their house where he would teach here about botany and horticulture. For eight years, Clelia remained with her parents opening a small florist shop which she grew a strong connection with it. However, it was not until 1889 where her dads plan for her to stay with them backfired.
From her florist business, that Celia had established she was able toaccumulate two thousand dollars that she was going to use to pay for her education at the Wellesley College in 1889. During her first year at Wellesley, she realized that his dad was telling here the truth, it was not easy task for here especially being a twenty –five year old freshman woman. By the end of the first year, she knew she was overworked and near collapse from so much studies.Nevertheless, as the summer came she was able to recover, and finish her second year at the Wellesley College, with ease. However, she transferred her junior year to the University of Wisconsin. For her final year, she transferred to Stanford University where she graduated from zoology in the spring of 1893.
Upon graduating from Stanford University Mosher had begun of thinking of her own interest as beingon the frontiers of science. Here first mission was to” determine to challenge every existing stereotype about physical incapacities of women” (Chapter 18 Pg. 300 Visions of Americas past) focusing primarily on the women’s sexual habits. To do so, Mosher remained at Stanford as an assistant in hygiene. Here job in this position was to take measurements of all female freshmen. From this position,she was able to observe the myth that physiology demanded that women breathed costally due physiological requirements of pregnancy but Mosher denied it and admitted that due to constrictive clothing and sedentary living women breathed costally. She established a series of experiments and test on women and men breathing throughout the campus to prove her point, that the only differences between sexesbreathing were those imposed by fashion a habitat.
However, many people did not believe Mosher ideas and studies over that matter. So therefore in the spring of 1896 Mosher at the age of thirty-two applied and got accepted to the Johns Hopkins School of medicine to show proof of here experiments. Mosher graduated with an M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1900. She thenwas a gynecology assistant at Dr. Howard A. Kelly's sanitarium in Baltimore and an externship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital dispensary from 1900 to 1901. During her time at the Johns Hopkins Hospital she did several other studies as well such as menstrual records of over four hundred healthy women and physical examinations.
Nevertheless, unfortunately during her times at Johns Hopkins...