Pioneering Women

Up at some weird hour, unable to sleep, I just re-read a short story I used to teach in A.P. English: The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She was a prominent poet, writer, lecturer and social reformer during the early 1900's -- known for her pioneering writing about postpartum depression and female mental health. (No, I'm not related to her.)

http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/gilman1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman

I know how much we are still learning about the female psyche and, in a day when Hollywood stars like Brooke Shields get so much press for their "work" in this field, I just thought I'd try giving a little credit to those women who risked severe social criticism and alienation to speak out when it just wan't acceptable to do so. If you've already read it, then pass it along to your sister, mother or girlfriend. It's an eye-opening, first-hand account of what women used to suffer -- alone.

The Yellow Wall-paper (short story text):
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=GilYell.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1
Gilman, on why she wrote the story:
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/whyyw.html

Scholarly commentary:

http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman.htm