An acquaintance of Elizabeth Blackwell,. Octavia Hill, and Elizabeth Garrett Ander- son, she yet remains relatively unknown. Shirley Roberts' biography is an ...
dence"; her sense of what was due to her the London School of Medicine for Women, which was formally affiliated with the Royal verged on bloodymindedness. An acquaintance of Elizabeth Blackwell, Free in 1877. That was also the year in which Octavia Hill, and Elizabeth Garrett Ander- she finally qualified as a doctor (in Dublin). Qualification proved anticlimactic, howson, she yet remains relatively unknown. Shirley Roberts' biography is an attempt ever, and was followed by prolonged illness, to gain some belated recognition for her after which she was never really the same subject: "Without her courage and tenacity, again. Thereafter it was a steady if unspecwomen would probably have been disbarred tacular general practice and a brief period as from the practice of medicine for several dean of Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women. Then there was retirement in more decades." Her confrontational style did not win Sussex and her garden. Sophia Jex-Blake died in 1912, aged 70. her many friends. Garrett Anderson, for example, preferred to enter the profession by This is the first biography of her for 75 years the back door and was happy for her success and, like its subject, is conscientious rather to speak for itself. Jex-Blake demanded than thrilling. Her earlier biographer wrote admission for herself and others through the of "the big transparent honesty, the fine unflinching consistency, of her life." Shirley front door. The story that Roberts tells of women's Roberts shows no inclination to depart from struggle to be admitted to the medical profes- that summing up.-JOHN MELMOTH, writer and sion assumes nightmarish proportions, as it editor, London shows how obstacle after obstacle was put in their way. Admitted to Edinburgh University in 1869, women were prevented from matriculating; having won the right to matriculate, they were prevented from Women Physiologists sitting public examinations; having been allowed to sit the exams, they were neverthe- Ed Lynn Bindman, Alison Brading, less unable to qualify because they were Tilli Tansey denied access to the wards of Edinburgh Portland Press, £9.99, pp 164 Infirmary in order to gain the necessary ISBN 1-85578-049-6 practical experience. Throughout it all Jex-Blake deployed the I s success in a lifetime of science harder for "dogged persistence" that was her defining women than for men? Women were first characteristic-wresting one concession after allowed to be members of the Physioanother from the medical establishment. logical Society in 1915. Women Physiologists, After four years, however, the few rights that as a celebration of the 75th anniversary of this had been granted to women were suddenly breakthrough, examines the contributions rescinded. and lives of 18 of the most outstanding The focus of events then moved to British women physiologists. Six of them London. In 1874 Jex-Blake was one of the became fellows of the Royal Society (Janet driving forces behind the establishment of Vaughan, Marthe Vogt, Edith Biillbring, Mary Pickford, Jean Hanson, and Elsie Widdowson) and three of them achieved the title "dame" (Harriette Chick, Janet Vaughan, and Sheila Sherlock). What barriers did they have to overcome to pursue their careers? Was it more difficult for women to reach scientific success then than it is now? Five of them received financial backing from their families and most of them received strong encouragement when they were starting their careers. Only three came from medical or scientific families. Examples of overt prejudice against women obtaining academic positions were rare, although Sheila Sherlock experienced it in Edinburgh and Harriet Chick had strong male opposition to her first appointment. It is striking how often these promising young researchers were spotted by senior professors such as Haldane, Sherrington, Starling, Elliot, and Dale and given support and opportunities. (Being a foreigner as well as a woman was no bar to progress: both Edith Biillbring and Marthe Vogt left Germany for Britain in the 1930s.) Three became heads of university departments and six became heads of research units. Of the eight who achieved public recogSophiajtex-Blake: her bloodymindedness paid off
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Dame Sheila Sherlock: suffered overt prejudice
nition, six were unmarried. Of the 10 other notable physiologists, eight were married and two had children. There were five examples of successful scientific collaboration between husband and wife. The importance of having enough money to pay for domestic help and child care if mothers are to be able to pursue serious scientific careers is pointed out. The responsibilities of women in caring for aging relatives are also mentioned. Single women often have more difficult domestic circumstances than single men, especially those in the Oxford and Cambridge colleges. The book gives a short biographical sketch of each researcher and reproduces the most important paper with an explanatory introduction putting the paper in the context of the time it was written. The subjects range from nutrition and growth through plutonium in bone marrow to neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, and portal-systemic encephalopathy. This group of women physiologists had great determination and the ability to apply themselves to research for a lifetime. I was struck by the parallels between science and art, literature, or music. The motivation to create or discover something original and valuable was overriding. The need for economic reward, power, or status was secondary in many cases. Sybil Cooper, for example, made outstanding contributions in research into muscle spindles but had no permanent position in Oxford. I was also struck by the longevity of the eight who became FRS or DBE, with a mean age of 88 and three still alive. The book can be read as a fascinating history of physiology but the authors have intended that there should be lessons for the present and the future. Only 1 1/% of members of the Physiological Society in Britain are women although women comprise about 44% of postgraduate students in biological sciences. Only 8% of senior lecturers and 1173
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readers of physiology and anatomy are women and only 7% of professors. In 1994, only 3% of fellows of the Royal Society are women. Does this represent a waste of female talent? Should there be positive action to increase the participation of women in physiological science? An alternative approach is to improve the availability of good child care so that women can work full time and compete on equal terms scientifically with men. Although the book deals with physiology in Britain, the theme is international. The proportion of professorships held by women in the medical faculty at the University of Oslo is only 6%. This book would be suitable for all biomedical academic departments and for all who have an interest in the development of medical research. I particularly recommend it to young researchers of either sex embarking on a PhD or MD in biomedical science. These 18 examples of personal determination and scientific success may well provide psychological support when times are hard.-MARIANNE THORESEN, senior lecturer, department of paediatric research, National Hospital University of Oslo
Male Violence Ed John Archer Routledge, £ 14.99, pp 414 ISBN 0-41 5-08962-X F or anyone working with violent men or writing about them, Male Violence is an excellentbook. Itoffers 18 chapters of empirically researched arguments on the nature and expression of violence in the context of sex and gender, augmented by a myriad of theoretical positions.
Archer has accepted the differences of the authors and sought to grapple with the root causes, be they Darwinian, economic, or social in origin. There is a clear attempt throughout to work with the interaction of nature and culture in comprehending the sources of violence rather than seeing them as separate sides of a dichotomy. Accepting the ensuing tensions has created a rich and stimulating stream of perspectives; the whole culminates in the final chapter, in which Paul Gilbert attempts, with some success to create an integrated frame in which to place the diverse views expressed. Structurally the book is divided into four parts. The first section looks at aggression in childhood, to indicate some of the developmental origins of male violence. Part two looks at violence among men, with a study of delinquent gangs as well as a sociohistorical survey of warrior values and the linking of these with basic concepts of masculinity. This section is particularly welcome as there has been relatively little study made of male violence towards other men. Part three is concerned with male violence towards women and children, a topic of increasing public concern. This covers violence in the family, sexual violence towards women, and the abuse, sexual and otherwise, of children by men. The final part of the book is concerned with explanations of male violence. Among the perspectives explored here are the immediate biological influences of hormones and heredity; the ultimate biological explanation of evolutionary adaptation; power explanations, which are structural explanations involving people's positions in society; socialisation; and the social representations of violence by men and women which provide the cultural background to socialisation. An overview is then given that attempts to integrate these and link male violence to
mental health concerns and wider societal values. The only criticism I woud make is that there is little practical description of the various approaches, therapeutic and educational, that currently exist to help prevent male violence. An elucidation of their principles and practice within the theoretical and statistical frameworks set out here would have been enormously valuable. This aside, I fully recommend the book for practitioners and academics alike.-PAUL WOLF-LIGHT, co-ordinator and counsellor, the Everyman Centre, London
Patient or Pretender: Inside the Strange World of Factitious Disorders Marc D Feldman, Charles V Ford, Toni Reinhold Wiley, £19.95, pp 228 ISBN 0-471-58080-5
actitious or feigned illness-including its extreme forms, Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen syndrome by proxy-is the focus of much interest in Britain, mainly as a result of celebrated cases reported widely in the press and the increasing demands made by such pretending or deceiving patients on doctors and the already strained resources of the NHS. Patient or Pretender therefore makes a timely appearance if only to emphasise the destructive effect such patients have on carers and families and the need for an increasing awareness of their existence. The book describes clearly how factitious
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V_ ~Almost half of all women murdered are killed by a current_ _ ~~~orformer partner. It's not just a fact of life, it's a crime. R A poster from London 's Zero Tolerance campaign organised by the Association of London Authorities. The campaign against violence to women began in Montreal, Canada, after the murder of 14 women engineeringstudents. It moved to Edinburgh in 1993 and to Labour controlled London councils in anuaby this year
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