French Enlightenment

“The role women could play in the court of public opinion should not be underestimated. The medical causes célèbres studied here reveal that women took an active role in shaping public sentiment on issues of concern to them, notably health and religion. . . . Nor can the debates . . . be considered yet another skirmish in an unending battle between the sexes. Documents by women support the Convulsionaries, Renée [re childbirth after unnaturally long pregnancy], and Mesmer have entered into the historical record in far great numbers than have documents by women challenging them. This does not necessarily mean, however¸ that the majority of women whose voices have not been recorded were at odds with their fathers, husbands, and sons. Some women may well have been as appalled by the spectacles created by the Convulsionaries and mesmerists and by the debate over late births as were some men” (L. Wilson, loc 146-149).