Insane asylums in the late 1800s were known for their deplorable conditions and gross mistreatment of patients. During this time in history, women were overlooked and often not offered the higher-level jobs that men had. Women stunt reporting in the 1880s and 1890s introduced them to the profession of journalism. Nellie Bly was the perfect person for this stunt reporting project as she was a woman with the motivation to make an impact. Bly’s portrayal of insane asylums in the late 1800s is accurate despite her lack of education and professional training in the field. Her experiences and observations correspond with treatments and conditions of historical insane asylums. She was a strong influence on other women and showed the world that there was a place for hard-working people like her. Nellie Bly was one of a kind. After the death of her father, Bly watched her mother support the rest of the family with the strength she knew all women had. Her mother’s actions encouraged her to show the world the views of women through her writing. Bly’s journey to become a journalist was not easy, “In 1887, after months of rejection from editors who refused to consider hiring a woman, aspiring journalist Nellie Bly finagled a meeting with the New York World’s managing editor” (Lutes 217). Her success with this opportunity led her to the project on Blackwell’s Island. Bly was determined and this encouraged many other women along the way to pursue these jobs in the workforce. Their perseverance was incredible: “While Bly and her followers were often scorned by more traditional journalists (including well-known muckrakers like Ida Tarbell), they were the first newspaperwomen to move, as a group, from the women’s pages to the front page, from society news into political and criminal news” (220). Nellie Bly is Elizabeth Seamen’s publishing name, representing the controversy of a woman in this working role. Women were afraid to use their real names when publishing because they were associated with a negative connotation. During this time, women were traditionally portrayed delicately and were left at home to care for the children.  Their contributions were not recognized or respected. Men did not believe that the workforce was the place for women, even if the woman wanted to work. Bly was not seen as a professional because of her lack of previous experience however she turned it into an advantage when she entered the project with the goal of a rich experience in mind: “Bly’s reportage exulted in the concrete specifics of one individual’s experience and scorned the relative abstraction of disinterested observation” (218). Bly used every detail to make her own conclusions and portray the asylum through her writings just as she interpreted them. 

Bly mentions during her walk that she saw, “one woman had on a straightjacket, and two women had to drag her along” (292). Colaizzi supports, “The original device confined the entire body from the neck to the ankles and bound the arms close to the body, allowing patients very little movement” (36). Bly’s experiences were an accurate representation of the treatment styles of that time. Not only did Bly witness these cruel treatments, but she also experienced them herself. Since Bly was actually experiencing everything, she was able to learn and be trained along the way. I argue that her lack of training actually gives her an advantage in this stunt report because she is able to keep an open mind. The time frame in which Bly does this study is important because in the late 1800s doctors did not understand the cause of any mental disease. Women would be sent to the asylums for reasons such as divorce and drinking alcohol, or anything that shied away from the norm. Today, the symptoms of mental diseases and treatments are clear and handled carefully.

Colaizzi describes hydrotherapy in the end of the 1800s as, “a common practice to wrap agitated patients in cold, wet sheets; the swaddling prevented the patients' movement” (36). This description of hydrotherapy directly relates to the book where Bly says, “they put me, dripping wet, into a short canton flannel slip” after she was bathed with “ice-cold water” (287). Bly’s experiences are far more valuable than pure statements. Bly felt the cold water on her own bare skin and the reader can feel that connection when reading her report. She is continually surprised with the way the Women’s Insane Asylum runs their program. She interacts with other inmates, the nurses and the doctor. I argue that the conversations shared between Bly, the nurses, and the doctor are most important, mainly because the reader knows that Bly is not truly insane.  Her unique perspective enables her to truly bring her words to life and allows the reader to almost feel the conditions she experienced.

Lutes said, “Bly undermined the foundation of expert knowledge itself” and I agree because her position as a woman completing this project hindered her in no way (221). Being a woman in this situation is beneficial because it was a female insane asylum and the job would not have been suitable for a man. The women in the asylum are treated as objects that were abandoned by men. The nurses asked the women about their husbands and what they did and it seems that their level of sanity depends on where they came from and the man that most likely brought them to the asylum in the first place. 

Bly was treated just like every other woman in the insane asylum during her time there: “Moreover, impersonating insanity allowed her to flaunt the very characteristics that were being used to bar women from city newsrooms: her female-ness, her emotional expressiveness, her physical—even her explicitly sexual—vulnerability” (Lutes 218). There were situations in the asylum that Bly was on the borderline of being trespassed in the most disrespectful ways. Bly didn’t have much training but her amateur outlook even resulted in the change of policy within the asylum about the treatment of patients. 

The women’s asylum on Blackwell’s Island was never supposed to be like what Bly witnessed. The “half-built, overcrowded, convict-supervised asylum” was intended to be “state-of-the-art institution” with “an organized and orderly environment” (Boardman 81). Stunt reporters like Bly were crucial to the investigation of situations like these. Money was the major issue in the execution of building this particular insane asylum. Bly’s observations were integral in determining the next steps for the institution. Insane asylums were supposed to be a place to go to get treatment and become healthier, but in this case doctors turned to treatment including physical abuse as well as bad living conditions. 

Nelly Bly was a pioneer during a time when journalism, and especially the newsroom, was dominated by men.  She not only forged a path for other females, but she brought attention to serious issues such as the insane asylum at Blackwell’s Island while acting as a stunt reporter.  While some historians argue that stunt reporting was a passing fad, Nelly Bly was a convincing participant during this unique era of journalistic history.  She eloquently offered her experiences in her writings and contributed to forging a path for women in the stunt reporting niche.  Nelly Bly enabled women who followed her to stand out as independent thinkers and worthy journalists.
