Publicity and Professionalism: Madeleine Pelletier (1874–1939) and Constance Pascal (1877–1937)

Abstract

This article analyses the heretofore under-researched press coverage of the first two women to enter the psychiatric profession in France, Constance Pascal and Madeleine Pelletier. Their personal appearance and feminine, or anti-feminine, styles counted heavily in the publicity they received. Far from being passive recipients of press attention, they sought to utilise the media to further their political and professional goals. Both were committed feminists, but whereas Pelletier threw her energies into feminist and socialist campaigns, Pascal, mindful of her professional standing, avoided direct feminist campaigning, seeking to improve the treatment of women psychiatric patients and to advance the cause of women in psychiatry. An analysis of their relationship with the media throws a telling light on French cultural norms, revealing how an emphasis on domestic ideology could be coupled with admiration for women ‘firsts’ in the professions. This case study traces how Pelletier and Pascal employed their media strategies to negotiate the paradoxes of gender in the public sphere.