Social control through the body: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s neglected approach

Guillaume Vallet ()
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Guillaume Vallet: CREG - Centre de recherche en économie de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes

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Abstract: In the context of the American Progressive Era (1890-1920), Charlotte Perkins Gilman lent her voice to the movement for the emancipation of women, as part of a larger struggle for the improvement of the American society. Specifically, she insisted on the necessity to fight "androcentric institutions" and rebuild the American economy and society on a fairer basis. To that aim, she targeted two main directions: the betterment of the social work (through maternity and the improvement of "race", to quote her own words) and the building of the American nation. At stake was the need for "social control". The novelty of this paper is to point out that Gilman placed the body at the core of this project. Considering the body as a transformable individual resource – but connected to the social world – she championed the physical and intellectual training of the body through regular sport practice. The improvement of the body was therefore at the heart of her combat as a tool and as an end in itself, particularly in the context of the Progressive Era: indeed, the body is the space between the individual and its environment, between nature and culture, in a time characterized by the weight of evolutionist ideas. Therefore, in Gilman's views, women's empowerment through the improvement of their body is evidence of control, education, resistance, organization and health, not only for their own benefits but also for the benefit of society. It is therefore no surprise that Gilman analyzed the gendered underpinnings of prostitution, maternity and diseases, several issues revolving around the body. The importance of the body in Gilman's thought makes her a leading figure of the feminist movement.

Date: 2025-01-03
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Published in ASSA 2025 Annual Meeting, Allied social science associations; American economic association, Jan 2025, San Francisco, United States

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