"The worst are women-doctors": nineteenth-century attitudes toward the appearance and professionalism of women physicians.

Abstract

Will you think it queer if I say a word as to dress from a man's standpoint? If you want to see ill-dressed people, the worst are women-doctors, platform ladies, college professors (men), and the folks generally who are over-valuers of learning. In the effort to dress the mind, I pray you not to forget the body. I never saw a professional woman who had not lost some charm. There comes a little hardness, less thought as to how prettily to do or say things; affected plainness of dress; something goes. It seems to me a duty for men and women to seem as well to be gracious in dress and manner.