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Introduction
A common concept is that the physical therapy profession (PT profession) came into being around 1900. In this respect, England is usually understood as its cradle because the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) was founded there in 1894. Historical and sociological research on the origins of the profession in different countries often also assumes that it was coded feminine at first, and not only in the sense that its first practitioners were women. It has also been described as a typical semiprofession, meaning that the occupation did not meet the criteria for a full profession as defined by sociological literature (Larsen 2005; Linker 2011; Nicholls and Cheek 2006; Rogers 2014). A semiprofession lacks what gender scholars have identified as professional attributes with masculine connotations, such as a high degree of autonomy and a unique scientific body of knowledge. The characteristic femininity of a semiprofession is often contrasted with the masculinity of the medical profession. The medical profession is described as an archetype of a full profession where there is no doubt about its free hegemonic position in the labor market and its scientific status (Davies 1996; Gilbert 2001; Witz 1990).
It has been pointed out in studies of the first physical therapists (PTs) that they were dependent on the medical profession and that the quality of their knowledge was sanctioned by it, however not as a science but as a craft essential for the successful rehabilitation of patients. Regarding the latter, not least World War I is considered a milestone for the PT profession. When all the wounded soldiers returned, the demand for PTs became huge, which doctors in particular understood. The US PT corps, for instance, came into being as a direct consequence of the war and the army's need of so-called reconstruction aides, a need that physicians identified and tried to meet (Heap 1995; Linker 2005a, 2005b).
However, the estimated age of the PT profession is not correct, a fact that has started to attract attention. The profession is nearly 200 years old and its earliest history has shown that the first PTs were actually men, not women. Not until the last decades of the 1800s did female PTs begin to appear. But the profession was not masculine only in terms...