In the late nineteenth century, S. Weir Mitchell created "The Rest Cure" to treat hysteria and other nervous illnesses (Science Museum). Of course, today humanity knows that the rest cure does not work, but back then, they honestly thought it did...or perhaps they did not. Women and men who showed the same symptoms were prescribed different treatment options which came from a lack of knowledge and a great amount of sexism in the time period. This was a key moment in the feminist movement of the 19th century that began to show that people were not going to sit around and allow these and other misogynistic acts to continue. The rest cure was a long process that usually forced women to go mad with the solitude coupled with the notion that men should have better treatment options than women. 

       Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story about a woman in the 1800s having to endure the rest cure even though there is nothing wrong with her. Gilman is speaking to anyone who wants to know more about how she and other women had to act during this phase in the hopes that others will make a change for the better. The rest cure consisted of six to eight weeks of confining the patients to a bedroom while having little to no interactions with others. Doctors banned their patients from doing anything creative and had to be force fed and shocked most of the time to stay true to the treatment (Science Museum). Doctors used this treatment as a way for patients to get away from a bad environment at home or regain lost weight if they are underfed. In reality, it was a complete gimmick and meant to break the will of those forced to participate in this cruel torture. The handling of this mental state was meant to put the women in a mindset that men wanted them to be in which did not have the women's best interests in mind but rather the doctors' ideas. Gilman even states that she could not reply or argue with the orders for her to go into bedrest as the narrator states, "So of course I said no more on that score " (Gilman 215). The doctor guilt tripped her into having to listen to whatever he said because of the views on gender roles at the time and how women were not "supposed to" talk back against the men or have any sort of creative mind.

       The men who had the same symptoms of the women were not subject to the same torment that the women were but they had to go through a "west cure" which consisted of them doing "manly" things as cowboys would. People should not force this on others and consequently, it pushed the idea of gender roles so far that it has made it very difficult to recover from to this day. Even though men had to go through an unnecessary "treatment", it was nothing compared to the blatant misogyny that women of the time went through during the treatment. Anne Stiles believes that both cures "...reinforce[d] 'proper' sexual behavior " (Stiles Go Rest Young Man). This way of thinking continued the hubris notion of gender roles that we still struggle with today. These roles at the time were to make men more masculine and be the workhorses of the time while looking down on women who wanted to enter a profession. Science at the time played a significant role in these ideas since biological differences between the sexes had a major role in almost everything.

       The effects on the mind that the so-called cure had were tremendous. Women went mad with the confinement process. The narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" went mad from having to stay inside the room for so long. According to the Science Museum, many people challenged the idea of the rest cure while some "  [F]eminist scholars argued the rest cure reinforced an archaic and oppressive notion that women should submit unquestioningly to male authority because it was good for their health" (Science Museum). The doctors exacerbated the problem by forcing them to eat fatty foods and sometimes force feeding them if needed. Not only was the rest cure used to "cure" mental traumas but it was also enforced in order to try to treat anorexia. This is a prime example of just how women were seen and treated back then. Women were not seen as mentally stable or their body image had to be perfect at all times. Very few men went through rest treatment in comparison to their female counterparts and if they did, it was either not as invasive or used to masculinized effeminate men.  In "The Yellow Wallpaper", Gilman points out how John looks at her when she began saying. She writes, "[John] sat up and straight and looked at me with such a stern, reproachful look that I could not say another word" (Gilman 215). It shows how society viewed the conditions about mental health at the time and that a good number of people thought that they were better than those who had varying conditions or were not the same as neuro-typical as them. Some even thought that they did not have to worry about people with these factors since they had nothing to do with their lives.

The feminist movement of the 19th century was difficult for many reasons other than the rest cure being prominent. Many feminists were nervous about organized movements but still supported the notion of it. Queen Victoria was against the feminist movement and thought that it was a waste of time and effort. This is exemplified in the Victorian image of being a "proper woman" and the idea of separate spheres. The Queen was later known to write letters talking of how "mad and wicked " the Rights Movements was at the time (Crawford). Florence Nightingale ignited a fire for many feminists but did not specifically prefer an organized front. She believed that women had the same amount of potential that men had but just had no chances of fulfilling that potential. Some feminists dismissed her views because of their own differing opinions. Nightingale has later been removed as a figurehead for modern nurses (1999) because of the actual amount of privilege she had in her life. The Nurse's union said she built her hospital out of family money and had a bad approach to nursing. Even though she has been less of a factor for modern day feminism, she was still a big push for the movement in the mid-19th century. All of these things have the same mood as the rest cure in that they should not be problems. Gilman could replace Nightingale's figure status in some scenarios since she has written things that have inspired groups and an entire movement to rally behind a cause and fight to achieve a certain goal. This has led to what modern day social movements, including feminism, have to offer in the way they are worked towards. 

       The feminists of the 19th century and "The Yellow Wallpaper" exemplify how unneeded this method of "treatment" was in the time as well as how people, mainly women, were treated in general. Since Gilman was a patient of Mitchell's rest cure, the story is more accurately portrayed and the message it sends is much stronger. The Rest Cure may have worked on a few patients but that does not change the fact that it was misogynistic, unnecessary, and completely wrong which is a statement that could be said for many other things that happened during the time.

