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- Title
'My Blood Was All Turning to Water': Testimonial Advertisements and the Creation of a Menstrual Network in the U.S., 1870s–1910s.
- Authors
Davey, Frances
- Abstract
This article explores the nexus of two phenomena – the mass production of consumer goods and the maelstrom of medical theorising on the female reproductive system – through testimonial advertisements produced by the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Company (LEPMC). This article argues that a wide‐ranging, self‐regenerating group of predominantly white, middle‐class American women formed a network rooted in LEPMC advertisements to negotiate power over the practice and meaning of their own reproductive lives. By publicly testifying to the efficacy of Pinkham products, these women used the tools of mass advertising and their collective understanding of modern medicine to campaign for empowered womanhood. They created a narrative in which they played long‐suffering protagonists who challenged physicians' authority, claimed ownership over reproductive knowledge and prioritised female consumers. By forefronting the female consumers who engaged directly with the LEPMC advertising department and indirectly with each other, this article situates the Pinkham network in a complex discourse on women's reproductive agency.
- Subjects
ADVERTISING endorsements; WOMEN consumers; PINKHAM, Lydia Estes, 1819-1883; MENSTRUATION; WOMEN'S empowerment; AMERICAN letters; HERBAL medicine
- Publication
Gender & History, 2023, Vol 35, Issue 2, p623
- ISSN
0953-5233
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/1468-0424.12608