ABSTRACT
As the nineteenth century came to an end, writer, physician and ‘eugenic feminist’, Dr Arabella Kenealy, regaled the readers of the literary magazine Nineteenth Century with the transformative story of Clara. A year ago, Clara could not walk more than two miles without tiring: ‘now she can play tennis or hockey, or can bicycle all day without feeling it’. Through exercise and a vigorous lifestyle, Clara had toned and honed muscles, was slimmer, stronger and more agile. However, she had bartered many qualities for a ‘mess of muscle’ and lost her subtle charms in the process – sympathy, patience and elusive beauty. In their place Clara had developed a highly toned body, briskness, ‘mere muscular achievement’ and a ‘bicycle face’ (the face of muscular tension). She had a booming voice, neglected her domestic tasks and had abandoned ‘gliding’ in favour of ‘manly striding’. 1 Clara had thus in Kenealy’s view traded her femininity for a strident masculinity as she achieved robust health.
