Alice Bunker Stockham, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Alice Bunker Stockham

American activist

Date of Birth: 08-Nov-1833

Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Date of Death: 03-Dec-1912

Profession: writer, gynaecologist, obstetrician

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Alice Bunker Stockham (November 8, 1833 in Cardington, Ohio – December 3, 1912 in Alhambra, California) was an obstetrician and gynecologist from Chicago and the fifth woman to become a doctor in the United States.
She promoted gender equality, dress reform, birth control, and male and female sexual fulfillment for successful marriages. A well-traveled and well-read person who counted among her friends Leo Tolstoy and Havelock Ellis, she also visited Sweden and from her trips to schools there she brought back the idea of teaching children domestic crafts, thus single-handedly establishing shop and home economics classes in the United States. Stockham lectured against the use of corsets by women, advocated complete abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and believed in women's rights.Stockham was very concerned with the economic plight of divorced women with children and prostitutes who wanted to get off the street.
She felt that these women had no marketable skills and would be unable to support themselves, so she had copies of her book Tokology, a layperson's guide to gynecology and midwifery, privately printed and gave them to "unfortunate women" to sell door-to-door in Chicago.
Each copy came with a bound-in certificate signed by Stockham and entitling the bearer to a free gynecological exam. In 1905, a then 72-year old Stockham and her publisher were convicted of circulating improper literature under the Comstock laws.