author
Alice B. (Alice Bunker) Stockham
1833–1912
A pioneering doctor, lecturer, and reformer, she wrote frank, practical books about women’s health and married life at a time when such subjects were rarely discussed in public.
1 Audiobook
Tokology : A book for every woman
by Alice B. (Alice Bunker) Stockham
About the author
Born in Ohio in 1833 and raised in a Quaker family, she became one of the earliest women physicians in the United States. She studied medicine in Chicago and built a career focused on obstetrics, gynecology, and health education for women.
She is especially remembered for writing accessible books and pamphlets on childbirth, sexual health, dress reform, and women’s rights. Her best-known work, Tokology, was written for general readers rather than specialists, reflecting her goal of giving women clear medical information they could use in everyday life.
Her legacy is both notable and complicated: she was an influential advocate for women’s bodily autonomy and education, but some of her views and publications also drew legal and public controversy in her own time. She died in 1912, leaving behind a body of work that still appears in histories of women in medicine and reform movements.