Lobotomies Place in Women's History

by Katie Licari

Women’s emotions have often been categorized as “hysterical”, therefore these emotions have been dismissed due to the preconceived notions on hormones/menstrual cycles. Mental illness within them only adds insult to injury, allowing men to brush off women’s emotions even more. Far too often, male professionals jump to any excuse, including birth control or saying “all women get a little sad” instead of diagnosing the true issue. Although modern time is no saint, women were treated even worse towards the mid 1900s. At a time in the United States women were only expected to be wives and docile. Women’s emotions were seen as a nuance to whomever man they were with. Their solution? The new, cure-all procedure to make women “normal” again: the lobotomy.

Experimented by Walter Freeman in the 40’s, lobotomies devastated women’s mental health for years, and it was deemed to be acceptable. Lobotomies have never been made illegal, but phased out of medicine as time progressed. The actual procedure is where the prefrontal lobe is disconnected from the rest of the brain. Freeman’s preferred way was to take an ice pick and go in through the eye socket to break apart the brain. This procedure can make a multitude of changes to the brain with emotional conversion being the goal. However, they rendered most subjects with impaired speech, loss of movement, and a lack of consciousness. Freeman often did not explain if these could be side effects and many husbands forced their wives into it, or they were manipulated into agreement.

One of the most infamous examples is the lobotomy of Rosemary Kennedy, JFK's sister. She had been exhibiting behavioral issues at an early age, along with trouble in school. Her parents began to fear that she could ruin the family image and went with a choice they knew had many risks. Rosemary was known to be rebellious and kind before the procedure, yet after she lost most of her ability to speak and had little personality. She was forced to live the rest of her life in a care facility. Although her family attempted to treat her before the lobotomy, they treated her as if she was‘too much to handle and went about altering her life completely.

Her story is one of many, even if not all women had the same troubling side effects. They were still left with a hollow version of themselves and while many lived long lives, it is hard to say if it was prosperous. It is important to recognize how society has treated women’s mental health, both past and present. If this could be largely phased out, then there’s hope for our society to take women’s health more seriously.