Cover: Brown, Walter C. The single girl; a medical doctor’s intimate report on the problems of the unmarried female in our contemporary society. Derby: Monarch Books. 1961. HQ800.2 .B76 1961
As women’s history month comes to a close, we’ve changed our display case to feature more of the amazing women whose legacies fill our collections. The display will be extended through April 7 because of the University of Maryland’s Spring Break last week. Come back after that for a display in honor of Maryland Day, held on April 27, 2013.
Defining “Normal”
March 24 – April 07, 2013
Dr. Brown, author of The Single Girl, claims that the abnormal woman must “re-channel her existence via adjustment, sublimation, or a return to the normal, in order to find real happiness.”
How do women define normal? Clearly, not all of us have identical goals, lifestyles, and beliefs. This month, we celebrate the complex diversity of women and each individual’s right to find her personal definition of “real happiness.”
From the back cover of The Single Girl by Dr. Walter C. Brown:
Who is the single girl? How does she live? How did she get that way?
Here is a book which examines her problems—lesbianism, bisexualism, alcoholism, frigidity, nymphomania, narcissism, sadomasochism, or asexualism—and seeks to gain some measure of understanding of the various types of girls who get trapped by so-called single blessedness.
Through illuminating case histories culled from his private files, Dr. Brown probes into the lives of unmarried women and explains why—having chosen or been forced into an abnormal live—the single girl must re-channel her existence via adjustment, sublimation or a return to the normal, in order to find real happiness.
Special Collections & University Archives 
Reblogged this on S.A.Espinosa and commented:
I’ve been contributing to a display at the Special Collections that focuses on Women’s History Month. It’s really powerful to go through the collections and learn about the legacies of these women from history. When my coworker told me about this book (The Single Girl, by Dr. Walter C. Brown), I thought it provided a great counterpoint to unite all of these disparate women from our collections. I’ll be posting more about the display and its contents on Wednesday.
Pingback: Women’s History Month: Defining “Normal” Pt.II | Special Collections at the University of Maryland
Pingback: Women’s History Month: Defining “Normal”, Pt. III | Special Collections at the University of Maryland