PART I: THE SEXES IN TOCQUEVILLE'S AMERICA: The American man -- The arena -- Work and sex -- Democratic fathers and democratic sons -- Freedom of intercourse -- Strong men over orderly women -- PART II: FROM MIDWIVES TO GYNECOLOGISTS: The absence of midwives from America -- Democratic doctors -- The rise of gynecology -- Architect of the vagina -- Sexual surgery -- PART III: THE LIGHTNING-ROD MAN: The Reverend John Todd -- Primers for anxiety -- Todd's masturbation phobia -- The spermatic economy and proto-sublimation -- Men earn, women spend -- Woman's refinement -- Sex and anarchy -- From mother to mother earth -- PART IV: AUGUSTUS KINSLEY GARDNER: Dr. Gardner's education -- Garnder's career -- The physical decline of American women -- Punishing women -- The great organ of communication
Summary
Now a classic in the field, The Horrors of the Half-Known Life is an important foundational text in the construction of masculinity, female identity, and the history of midwivery
