Absurd Texts in American History (III, b)

Here is my second post from the beauty manual given to the women playing professional baseball in the 1940s and 1950s. The first was here.

This was attached to the beauty manual, telling the women that in fact their bodies could play sports. What's absurd about this is not so much the text itself, but that these issues were in question while my parents were alive. The text originally is from "Health by Stunts" and was written by Army officers N. H. Pearl and H.E. Brown.

"There has grown up in our modern civilization, especially in this country, a false notion of the capacity of women for physical development. It has been assumed, not only by the majority of the general public, but by many medical men as well, that physical training for girls must be confined to calesthenics, carefully planned out gynmastic movements, and gymnastic dancing. All of the more vigorous forms of play and exercise have been looked upon with more or less disapproval.

A careful study of the objections raised to vigorous activities for girls will show that they are based on two quite different assumptions, namely, (1) the unalterable physiological make-up of women which, it is claimed, makes strenuous athletics imdesirable in that it interferes with her greatest function--child bearing; (2) the delicacy of structure, general motor inferiority, relative lack of strength, and frality as compared with man make the attempting of athletics inadvisable if not impossible. In connection with this idea goes the fear that the rougher sports will destroy "femininity."

As for the physiological characteristics of women, which are unalterable and which are said to prohibit anything of a strenuous nature, the simple fact of the existence of these characteristics does not, when all the evidence is considered, seem to lead to any such conclusion. If women were fundamentally, through sex characteristics, unfitted for muscular exertion, it would have to be shown that in all periods of civilization she was thus unfitted. That is to say, it would not be sufficient proof to take as examples women living under a given set of conditions, and to say that it is their fundamental sex characteristics which make them unfit for strenuous excercise. We would have to show first that it was not the living conditions themselves that had brought about the unfitness.

In summary, we point out that vigorous play taught to girls during their period of physical supremacy leads to a confidence in self, a control and coordination of muscle, and a general energizing of the whole system that can be developed in no other way quite so well. It alone can develop and store up in the girl a reserve strength which will stand her in good stead through the emergencies of her life. Self-preservation may depend on her ability to run, jump, vault, climb, and swim, and the learning of these things will of necessity develop a strong, vigorous heart which is ever the foundation of courage and exultation.

The development of leadership, initiative, and self-confidence in the girls who are to have the tremendously increased responsibilities of women must carry in another generation is surely of vast importance. If they can be encouraged to think, judge, and act on their own responsibility they can gain an asset that should prove of great future value. In Detroit the girl leaders are surprisingly reliable and efficient, and with the support of the teacher nad the Physical Education Department, are getting most satisfactory results."

Again, this was an argument that needed to be made only a few decades ago. Well, I'm glad that is settled. Now if we could only decide whether women have souls...