Lydia B Denny was kidnapped and forcebily commited to an asylum by her husband from whom she was attempting to divorce on grounds of physical abuse. Her personal statement, followed by letters she wrote while committed, illustrate the ways in which members of the larger society, including those in the medical and legal systems, became agents of abuse against women in the 19th century. Although other websites have tagged this manuscript with terms like "battered woman" or "Reuban Swan Denny" (her husband), I find these terms take away from the power Lydia found to resist not only the social pressures of an abusive marriage but also the oppresive legal system that attempted to label her insane.
Bly investigated an asylum in the 19th century by feigning insanity. The included excepts display Bly's attempt and ultimate success in being declared insane by the courts. Most of the book explores what the asylum was like; however, this particular section enlightens what female insanity "looked like" in the 19th century, even to other women. Although Bly's work was inevitably a positive force for institutionalized women, she also plays into stereotypes of the "insane woman," which inadvertently legitimizes the harmful stereotypes that led to these systems of abuse.
