Mothers and daughters in nineteenth-century America [electronic resource] : the biosocial construction of femininity / Nancy M. Theriot.

Print version record.

Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface to the Revised Edition; Introduction: Investigating Identities and Experience from a Generational Perspective; 1 ""Imperial Motherhood"" and Its Material Roots; 2 The Physical Roots of Ideology; 3 Acculturation into ""True Womanhood""; 4 Daughters' Brave New World; 5 The ""Green Sickness"" and Daughters' Ambivalence; 6 A New Feminine Synthesis; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

The feminine script of early nineteenth century centered on women's role as patient, long-suffering mothers. By mid-century, however, their daughters faced a world very different in social and economic options and in the physical experiences surrounding their bodies. In this groundbreaking study, Nancy Theriot turns to social and medical history, developmental psychology, and feminist theory to explain the fundamental shift in women's concepts of femininity and gender identity during the course of the century -- from an ideal suffering womanhood to emphasis on female control of physical self.