Synthesis Week 1

--This week, we mostly covered women’s health. There were multiple ways that doing this was and is accomplished. Photography, writing in general, and literature as well seem to be the three main ways to capture this.
--First there is photography. In the late 1800’s, Jacob Riis managed to invent a more effective form of photography that was better quality and easier to use on the go. Through the use of this new form of photography, the everyday working of life could be captured without it being staged. This was a way to capture the ills of society and get them to the public’s attention.
--There is of course general writing. Most of the readings this past week seemed to be of this category. Some of these readings could be considered literature but I say that that is just up to debate. Each reading touched on the issue of women’s rights, what was expected of women, and how they were treated. This all lead to Woman Suffrage in the early 1900’s.
--What I understand is that women were put down in every possible way. By put down I mean that they were kept under control. Any kind of ambition or free thinking seemed to be grounds to call the woman crazy or otherwise. Force feedings, electroshock therapy, and constant bed rest were just a few of the things that women might have or did go through. As a result of all this oppression, women began to make a stand which was the Woman’s Suffrage. Women slowly began to take on a more integral part of society and started to gain positions that men most often held and began to so start writing on topics that typically only men wrote about. By 1920, it their efforts had succeeded and women finally gained the right to vote, and with that, began to gain other rights and started to take on more of a role in society other than just being a house wife. From 1920 on, American society began to see a lot of change.